Most downtown casinos offer either no-strings-attached free parking for non-staying guests or free parking for a certain number of hours with a validation stamp (usually available at the main cage). Furthermore, even most of those casinos that theoretically have time-restrictions will extend the validation period, just for the asking, so long as you're seen to be staying on-property (check with a pit boss or restaurant maitre d'). All downtown casinos offer free parking to hotel guests, with the exception of the Four Queens, which charges $3 per day, regardless of how long you play in the casino. According to the hotel's front desk, the only way you can get this charge waived is to join the slot club, which will grant you free parking status for all subsequent stays, but not for your first.
Of course, free parking is a comp. And where comps are available, there's usually gambling involved. Below, Anthony Curtis describes "playing parking" when he first came to town.
Friends and I would often go downtown to play mini tournaments. We were always partners in everything we did -- the tournament, side blackjack play, and whatever other gambling plays we'd see and make. Sometimes we'd spend 15 or 20 hours on one visit, so the fees would get high making it mathematically correct for us to gamble on the way out to get our parking comped. The play was to buy-in at a table and play till you caught a bosses eye, then hand him your ticket for validation. Sometimes you'd play a single hand, sometimes it took 20 minutes. You could win or lose a lot of money waiting for validation, so when we settled up later, we'd always designate how much we won or lost "playing parking."
