Al Shaw wrote on November 16, 2009 12:16 PM: If they want hotel guests to gamble they will have to go back to reasonable minimum bets and fair odds. i.e. 3:2 blackjack instead of the greedy and insulting 6:5 paybacks. Reasonable meal values instead of 3 figure tabs for pseudo gourmet cuisine.

Superfarmer wrote on November 12, 2009 12:27 PM: Vegas has been shoe clerk central for many years now. Bring back the gamblers, get rid of the gawkers - problem solved; the cooler crowd goes away.

dandiego wrote on November 08, 2009 06:27 PM: $10 beers, $70 for two to eat breakfast, $300 to sit down at a table in a nightclub, resort fees, 6/5 blackjack, $400 cabanas, $200 shows. It used to be that Las Vegas made money from Gambling and everything else was discounted. People just got sick of being taken advantage of.
The casino owners have killed the goose that laid the golden egg.It is not about people being afraid to spend money. It is just that all the value is gone.Allowing Harrah's and MGM to own most of the strip created a virtual monopoly and they stopped caring about their customers.

Mel R wrote on November 07, 2009 06:44 PM: All I can say is payback is a bi%$h. In recent years Vegas forgot about all the people who frequented their establishments with modest budgets, but came to gamble year after year. Hoteliers began believing their own marketing, and started to deviate from a gambling culture, forgetting who helped create their profits, changing games and creating rules that no sensible gambler would play against. Why are hotels now surprised that the glut in their room availability is bringing in us "trashy people"? People want value for their money, and since gambling does not provide that anymore, people look elsewhere to get it, by bringing coolers, etc. Remember, those "fancy" rooms were all built with no amenities us average folks expect, like coffee makers and refridgerators. They should be greatful we are spending any money at all, after being neglected for so long for the more fickle "moneyed" crowd. If you don't like your clientele, increase your room rates, and expect your occupancy rate to drop. If the strip would go back to giving gamblers a fair shake, I bet their hotels would begin to fill up again. I have been going to Vegas for 20 years, and for the last 3 haven't even gone near the strip. I stay in locals hotels and gamble with companies that have fair games and seem to appreciate my business. Hey Vegas, we may be "trashy" but we aren't stupid!

socorro01 wrote on November 06, 2009 03:58 PM: I've been going to Vegas for over 30 years. If you see something wrong with bringing a cooler along on your vacation, you are really out of touch!! A bottle of Crown, some beers and cokes staying cold and available for a wind-down after playing long and hard at the tables is part of the relaxation of the vacation. Wake up, really!!

sevencard2003 wrote on November 06, 2009 03:27 PM: thank God the rooms are only $19-24 a lot of days, without it i couldnt survive and the homeless population would go up by 1, adding a lot more problems to this city. with as low a bankroll as i have, i can only average $25-50 a day grinding out my money in the lowest stakes 50c-1 NL poker games on the strip. and ive certainly never damaged a hotel room in my life, nor do i drink or use drugs. but of course im gonna eat at the cheapest places, and often thats mcdonalds.

the good news for the city is my bankroll has a chance to recover someday and within a few months may be as high as $3000 again, in which case i can go back to playing $1-2 NL instead of 50c-1 NL and $1-5 spread limit, and then ill be able to make $100-150 a day again and be living a life more like most lV visitors.

thank u to all casinos who give people a chance to sleep indoors instead of outdoors and slowly have a chance to recover and come back someday to being a normal member of society again. 1000s of readers of my online blog are looking forward to that day too

Jerry Bowman wrote on November 06, 2009 02:22 PM: Well, I must look as though I fit in the "trashier class" when my wife and I visit LV. When when I worked, wore a suit and tie daily and made a 6 figure salary, I always wore jeans and a cowboy hat when visiting .... often for a week.

My wife and I play hours at the blackjack tables but we look for a nice room at a good rate. We won't spend &100 - $150 for dinner when there are some great restaurants we dine for $40-$50.

We don't haul coolers through the hotel but we do look for bargains. My philosophy has always been ..... I' going to spend $1000 but I want to get $2000 in value.

That might make me trashy but it helped me get a 3000 square foot house on a hilltop in the Texas hill country and everything we want along with it.

Hey, we live on our social security, save most of our 2 pensions and want for nothing. But if dressing down, buying snacks at the grocery for our trip, looking for meal and show deals makes me trashy ...... well I always sang along with Confederate Railroad when they did "I like my women just a little on the trahy side".

Long live Vegas and by the way .... the blackjack games on the strip are horrible. Give me the El Cortez, Plaza, Sam's Town and a few others where they don't get their shorts in a knot if we score a few bucks.

Greg D wrote on November 04, 2009 12:04 PM: What else would you expect....when they built these mega resorts, i.e. Wynn, Palazzo, Encore, City Center and tore down places like Stardust and the Boardwalk it drove down the prices of mid-range casinos like NYNY, Monte Carlo, Flamingo, Etc.....therefore having the "trashy people" staying there. It's simple economics people.

-Vegas gets what is deserves building too fast for the economy to keep up!

Paul M wrote on November 04, 2009 10:56 AM: When I come, I bring a nice over-the shoulder cooler with me throughout the casino stocked with Cokes and a brewski or two. Why? First, most casinos serve Pepsi. Second, the ridiculous price of a fountain drink and food at these so-called "low end" places like Fatburger, and Sbarro at the food court, charge about 2-3 dollars for a fountain drink full of ice and no re-fills! And don't even mention the price of a Fatburger or Capriotti combo meal. Probably 10 dollars, which is a giant insult when we know that a combo off premise is 5 dollars. The prices at McCarren are better!

I then sit down and play games with my drinks. The casino misses nothing, and I resent the inference that my bringing a cooler makes me a low life. Just someone that doesn;t want to spend 40 dollars over a course of a weekend for soft drinks and sandwiches.

dano wrote on November 03, 2009 01:44 PM: If you want me back instead of the beer koozie types you need to work as hard as your competition. I hope the Corp. suits start to understand that they killed the golden goose when they stop giving value to their customers. I average $500.oo a bet on table games but since I haven't been gambling at Bellagio for a few years my host can't do a thing for me regarding getting something at the MGM, a sister property. I take my business where loyality swings both ways.

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