My wife and I will be in Las Vegas the end of January into the first week of February. Can you tell us the closest places to ski/snowboard to Las Vegas. How about available rentals and cost.

I just learned that Chrissi Scinta from The Scintas had to quit back in 2013 due to health problems. Do you have an update about this extremely gifted and entertaining woman?

Is there still a Playboy Club in one of the hotel casinos just off the Strip? If so, where is it located? If not, what years was it in operation?

For the past eleven years I have flown to Las Vegas three or four times a year on Allegiant. It's nonstop and at least $200 cheaper than any other carrier from my area. If it wasn't for Allegiant, I would only come to Las Vegas once every two years. Has Allegiant ever reported on the number of passengers it transports?

Your most recent QoD about redevelopment of the Strip (11/29/16) brought back 35 years of memories. Every 15 years or so, Las Vegas goes through a "phase." In the sixties, it was for "Hollywood East" people. In the eighties, it was for "family fun." In the nineties to 2005, it was "megaresort development." Now it seems to be a convention-driven Strip. Now I see mega-convention centers and boxlike hotels (Linq, Aria, Cosmo). The fun has gone from the Strip. They seem to just be moving most people from the hotels to the convention centers and back. For some basic fun and gaming, I have been moving to the downtown casinos and the local casinos. Have you seen the same kind of trends?

I seem to recall that Carl Icahn was given a deadline of August or September to cover up his his Strip monstrosity [Fontainebleau] to make it less dreadful. The deadline has come and gone without any sign of anything happening. What gives?

I have visited Las Vegas over 1,300 nights in my life and I recently witnessed over and over something weird. Most casinos leave abandoned slot credits on a machine alone. But the last five trips I have been frequenting The D. The employees cash out the leftover credits and scan them. What happens to those credits? I have witnessed other casinos cash the credits out and leave the paper on the machine glass for others to use. What gives?

I'm from Northwest Indiana and now the Pokagon Tribe in South Bend is starting construction on their casino. Apparently they will have class 2 gaming machines. My question is what are the odds on class 2 compared to class 3? I've played class 2 video poker in Wisconsin and am not impressed with a bingo card on the screen, just really throws the enjoyment out the window thinking i'm playing computer bingo. So are the payout odds much different?

I've just encountered a blackjack variation called "Top 3." It looks like an extension of the "21+3" game, offering a large payout for hitting any of three unlikely hands, like suited trip-aces. A dealer, who claimed that she'd done the math, told me that the "Top 3" is a good bet, pretty much guaranteed to pay off, especially if you're playing with a less-than-full table. I'm skeptical that the casino would ever offer a bet that's favorable for the players. What say you?

What do you know about the new casino opening in Kansas next year? It is supposed to be in the process of being built.