Email from Las Vegas
Nevada resident and author Deke Castleman uncovers the bargains to be had in Vegas, thanks to the credit crunch SLOTS-A-FUN is one of the smallest casinos in Las Vegas, but one of the biggest grind joints, where locals and savvy visitors find the best bargains in eating, drinking and gambling, right on the Las Vegas [...]
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Nevada resident and author Deke Castleman uncovers the bargains to be had in Vegas, thanks to the credit crunch |
SLOTS-A-FUN is one of the smallest casinos in Las Vegas, but one of the biggest grind joints, where locals and savvy visitors find the best bargains in eating, drinking
and gambling, right on the Las Vegas Strip.
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Compared to its towering neighbours, with their $60 à la carte rib eyes and $8 bottled beers, Slots-A-Fun boasts halfpound hot dogs, shrimp cocktails and ice cream for a
dollar, along with $1.25 margaritas and $2 Heinekens. And contrasting the Strip mega-resorts’ $25-minimum blackjack tables, Slots-A-Fun deals $1 blackjack and $2
craps, with players stacking up silver tokens just like in the old days.
This place is generally crowded with low rollers having a bargain-basement good time. When economies are crashing, travellers are sticking close to home. You can
practically fire a cannon in the town’s high-end restaurants without hitting a human, but players are lined up three deep at the Slots-A-Fun dice table, waiting to elbow
their way into the action.
It’s a sign of the times in Las Vegas. Due to the economic downturn, revenues are down 15% or so. It might be bad news for the casino corporations’ bottom lines, but
it’s a hot time in the old town for consumers. Crowds are thinner, lines are shorter, reservations are more readily available, and the joints are dishing up value with a
vengeance. Diners in upscale eateries are sparse, but the perennial bargain favourites, the buffets, are packing ‘em in.
Room rates have been slashed across the board to attract the value-conscious. The Venetian, for example, recently offered its 700-square-foot luxury suites (it has more
than 4,000 to fill) for $119 a night. As if a 40% discount on the average rate weren’t enough, the room came with a $50-per-night gambling credit, along with admission
and $50-worth of free drinks at the swinging Lavo Nightclub.
In another tempting bundle, The Palazzo was charging $219 for a luxury suite and two front row tickets to the musical Jersey Boys (the equivalent of getting the room for
free, plus a $60 discount on the tickets).
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The MGM Grand has discounted its standard rooms by 25%, including weekends and holidays, until the end of January 2009. New York-New York offered 20% off in
November. And the Hard Rock has been practically giving away its usually hardto- book rooms. Casinos are getting downright creative to bring people in. The downtown
El Cortez, for one, is treating guests to a little R&R with chair massages on the casino floor.
Although gambling away all your cash is not the best idea when it is becoming harder to come by, the volatile financial markets might be making the roulette table seem a
relatively good bet. As one partying player at a Slots-A-Fun table, with three beers at hand, told the dealer: “I’d rather lose what little money I have left here than on Wall
Street.” You can always count on Las Vegas for signs of the times.
Deke Castleman is the author of Whale Hunt in the Desert: Secrets of a Vegas Superhost (Huntingdon Press)
