I went to Laughlin last February. I had offers from the previous year--I had gone there over a year prior, pre-pandemic. I still get offers from the two properties where I stayed and played--the Aquarius and the Golden Nugget. So for the last two years, I've gotten quarterly offers: the Aquarius, three free room nights and $50 free play. The Golden Nugget, nine free nights and $120 free play (spread out).
Laughlin is pretty much a VP wasteland. The Aquarius has the only good VP in town: a few (10 or so) 99.5%+ quarter games. The best game is 9/6/90 JOB, which is a dead-even game. The player's club there gives you not jack diddly as far as points and their value are concerned, but I do get offers, and they're better and with a longer usable time frame than anything I get in Vegas. Also, using one offer tends to generate an immediate successive offer--sometimes, emailed to me within a week.
The Golden Nugget just has some 8/5 Bonus Spin Poker, and the rest of their VP is shit. But a modest amount of play has generated very good, and very consistent offers. I like their rooms very much. The points you earn are better in value than what you get at the Aquarius for equivalent play.
Other casinos in Laughlin have given me nothing--as in nothing, nothing, nothing--for my play, even when that play was on crap machines. The Riverside was the only one that didn't stiff me completely--I got three weekday room nights--while the Pain in the Rear (Pioneer), Garbage Can-a (Tropicana), Sludgewater (Edgewater), and Horror's (Harrah's) sent me nothing at all for my play. So, screw 'em.
As far as table games and limits are concerned, the limits are lower than in Vegas and the BJ games are better (though, how could they be worse?). You might have trouble finding action on a slow weekday during the day--they no longer have all the games operating 24/7. I believe that the only remaining functioning poker rooms are at Harrah's and the Riverside. Though both rooms are like the rec center at the old folks' home, the Riverside can be kind of fun--good promos and frequent low buy-in tournaments.
The food options in Laughlin are surprisingly sparse, surprisingly bad, and surprisingly expensive. I've found myself ducking across the river to Bullcrap City when I've wanted something to eat. The only disincentive is the appalling AZ/local sales tax. But at least there's an Applebees, Denny's, and all the usual suspects a five-minute drive away. I swear, every restaurant in Laughlin is fine-tuned to be as bland and its food as easily gummed as possible. (The sole noncasino fast-food option is a strategically placed and lifesaving In-and-Out.)
If you're not being comped, the cheapest room option is the Edgewater, followed closely by the Riverside. For quite a while now, I've used Laughlin as an emergency escape hatch when I visited Vegas for an extended period but room rates on a weekend zoomed skyward. Heck, I even stayed at the Colorado Belle for a week a few years ago and the total bill was $114. Prices have gone up, but it's still a bargain compared to Vegas.
Just don't expect much in the way of glitz. The average age of Laughlin visitors is 70. It's not a party-til-dawn type of place--more like party-til-nap time.
