Best Budget Vegas Tips

April 13, 2009 9:01 AM

My friend and I are leaving for Vegas tonight, but she got laid off this morning! I need your best budget Vegas tips pronto!

Yes, she totally needs this vacation even more than she did before, but we're going to need some excellent tips on the best values, cheapest places to party and eat, etc. We already have our digs at the NYNY paid for. Do it up, and thank you!

posted by hipersons to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

The easy (and obvious, sorry) way to have a cheap Vegas trip is to not gamble.
posted by fritley at 9:15 AM on April 13

Buy a case of a beer at the 7-11 across the street. Walk around with those cans.
posted by sandmanwv at 9:17 AM on April 13

Fill up at off-Strip buffets. [Maybe sneak in some Ziploc bags?] Rankings here.
posted by Joe Beese at 9:23 AM on April 13

Also: Las Vegas on 25¢ a Day
posted by Joe Beese at 9:25 AM on April 13

CheapoVegas has compiled a lot of what you might be looking for. The menu on the left lets you choose cheap stuff by category (eats, thrills, etc.). But just walking around and looking at things/people for free is pretty cool there.
posted by BlooPen at 9:29 AM on April 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ellis Island is a crappy casino, with really cheap and tasty steaks and great homebrewed beer. Also seconding the "don't gamble" thing.
posted by Grither at 9:29 AM on April 13

Lol the best advice don't go.


Hmm Dont do any card tables. What i did when i went and iswear i had more fun then everybody else.

Bring a ton of singles. Only play penny ,2 and 5 cent slots. I had more fun doing that . Also if by the end of a dollar the slot gives you nothing go to another one.

I came out $100 a head just by doing that the whole week. PS the wizard of oz slot machine at the monte carlo is a cheap but fun slot to play.

So stick with the very cheap slots only using $1 at a time.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:38 AM on April 13

For souvenirs for yourself: sign up for casino club cards at each of the major strip properties. They often have really cute designs, and aside from potentially some mailed offers, there's no cost to you.

For food: Flip through the American Casino Guide coupons section at your local bookstore. There's tons of 2-for-1 buffet coupons. Check to see if enough of them will be useful to you, and keep in mind that many of them are off-strip...so consider in particular if you will have a rental car or not. The Palms food court is a great and cheap option that lets you hang at somewhere nifty while eating fast-food cheapness.

For gambling: Look for free "funbook" or coupon offers at the casinos, often when you sign up for the casino club card. Casino Royale's is the best, and there's a great Outback above Casino Royale, plus a super-cheap t-shirt shop at one end. Actually, all around, Casino Royale is a great option. The Stratosphere has a funbook, but aside from some matchplays, it's pretty useless. Sahara used to have a funbook, not sure if they still do. Anyways, match plays are your friend! Just play the match play and WALK AWAY. Don't keep playing, and you'll be fine.

For shows, there's a 1/2 price ticket shop near the Coca-cola museum.
posted by TsuKata at 10:29 AM on April 13

Also, skip the bars at the nice strip casinos, and just keep walking until you find one of the dollar beer/dollar margerita places that are on the strip instead...and get two rounds each!
posted by Grither at 10:35 AM on April 13

Play craps! You get the most free drinks for your money/time investment at any of the casinos. If you make small bets, you can stay in a craps game for a pretty long time and have a lot of fun, get free drinks, and not spend a ton of money. Card tables, as others have said, are crap for this (har har), but craps is great.

Also, check out the Pinball Hall of Fame. Totally budget fun, but it's so great.
posted by booknerd at 10:41 AM on April 13

The Mermaids on Fremont St. is the best place to drink heavily for nearly free (they also have deep fried twinkies and oreos, but we didn't try those out). Last year about this time we went in for their $1 margaritas, but the special was over. We were leaving when a cocktail server stopped us and asked if we'd like anything. We ordered a drink and sat down to play penny slots, and the free drinks kept coming - we never had fewer than two drinks in front of us.

I guess I'm not sure if there's anything else I can tell you that the above mefites haven't said, and I don't know if you guys plan on drinking, but Fremont St. is the way to go if you don't want to spend money but drink up. Have fun!
posted by whiskey point at 10:46 AM on April 13

Slots-a-Fun bar near Circus Circus has 75-cent Coronas and cheap dogs. Also, head into Diablo's club in the Monte Carlo early to avoid the cover (not sure if this is kosher, but it worked for me!)

As far as cheap shows, it's hard to beat "Ignite" at the Greek Isles (just off the Strip on Convention Center). $25 with a $10-off coupon printable from their myspace page.
posted by coolguymichael at 11:50 AM on April 13

Slick Vegas - $760 gambling money, 14 free drinks and 34 BOGO buffets for $49 + $200 additional free play
posted by Nerro at 12:15 PM on April 13

I came here to say that my mother-in-law swears by penny slots, but I see many people here have mentioned those already.
posted by anastasiav at 12:34 PM on April 13

Seconding 1-cent slots if you must gamble. They still comp your drinks and you play for hours on 20-30 bucks, if you bet right.
posted by peewinkle at 12:51 PM on April 13

I haven't been in years, but I remember that when I went, the trick of finding the concierge desk and asking for any coupons, specials or tickets that were available worked. We got coupons for two-for-one buffet dinners and breakfasts, as well as ride, show and museum tickets at a discount or buy-one-get-one. One bartender (I forget where - I think it was the Bellagio) told us that as long as we each bought one drink, and each kept a minimum of (I forget, but I think it was only $10 or $20) riding in the poker machines in front of him that he could keep comping us drinks. And he did.
posted by peagood at 1:54 PM on April 13

cut up your credit cards
posted by madh at 10:12 PM on April 13

Hey everyone! I'm back, and here's what I learned.

The penny slots are awesome. I bet a total of $5 and came home with $10.

There are a lot of great coupons available everywhere you go: in books, by promoters on the corner. Good times.

Finding the cell phone number of club promoters on the internet and TXTing them to get on the guest list gets you into the best clubs for free as long as you show up early. We were even comped a round of drinks at the clubs we went to.

When that fails: I showed up at Studio 54 around 2AM and they told me if I can do something amazing I could get in for free. A handstand and a side aerial later I was in.

We had no intention on seeing any shows, but our first night there we met a guy that took us to see a hypnotist. At $75 a ticket, it was a lot of fun. He also paid for our taxi to our next destination even though he was going elsewhere.

In fact, we we're lucky to meet a couple great guys that treated us to some really fun stuff and bought us lots of drinks. So my best advice I guess is to be friendly to everyone, and open to serendipity leading the way!
posted by hipersons at 7:02 AM on April 17