My sister will be visiting Vegas for the first time at the end of this month. She's really into karaoke and performs a couple times a month in her hometown. I've read through LasVegasAdvisor's list of karaoke bars and the one at TI at Mist sounds interesting. Can you tell me what nights and times it's on? And is there any Karaoke downtown, where we will be staying? I thought the Bunkhouse had karaoke. If so, do you know what nights and times they have it?

My wife and I plan to retire to Las Vegas in six or seven years. We want to keep our home here in Saskatchewan, and live at least six months of the year in each home. I don't really like being a landlord, but we think it might be a good time to buy in Las Vegas while your prices are so low, and rent the house out until we move there. We can sell our home if we have to, but we'll be able to keep our home here if we can find a three-bedroom home in Las Vegas for under $250,000. Is this a realistic plan?

With the onset of TITO machines at most every casino, I often don’t have a few dollars to tip the cocktail servers. Are they allowed to accept TITO tickets?

What was the "Dome of the Sea" restaurant and where was it? I just bought a circa 1975 Las Vegas board game from a resale shop, and since the Dome is mentioned as one of the pieces of real estate that can be "purchased" while playing, I'm now curious about it's history, especially since it doesn't seem to exist anymore.

The Q&A about Gary Loveman (QoD 4/10/08) got my curiosity up about the rest of the book, Winner Takes All. What did you think about the whole thing?

Question 1: In our family of five, the agreed rule is if anyone wins the Megabucks or any large lottery, the winner gets 50% and the rest of the family splits 50%. Does that change the taxation structure, i.e. are the taxes reduced? Question 2: Your 4/13/08 QoD was about the megajackpots. How are the taxes paid if you take the 25 "installments?" I have heard the gov wants theirs right now.

The Missus, some friends, and myself are coming to Las Vegas at the end of May. I successfully lobbied our little group to stay downtown at the Golden Nugget to try something new. Now that I've convinced everyone to stay downtown, what would you recomend as the top things that we should do in order to get the most out of our Downtown Field Trip?

In light of the recent IRS investigations of PURE-managed nightclubs and the huge amounts of income they generate, doormen making hundreds of thousands of dollars is probably just the tip of the money iceberg. Why would the money-hungry casinos let outside entities such as PURE have access to any of the huge profits these clubs generate? I’m sure the hotels are more than capable of running nightclubs. Do you think they didn’t know how much money was involved, and now that they do, they’ll take back control? Or is a few hundred million dollars not enough to interest the casinos?

With the subtraction of the Stardust and New Frontier in 2007 and the addition of Palazzo and Encore in 2008, what is the net gain for hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip?

Question one: Could you please settle a small wager. On any Megabucks jackpot, I contend that the slot manufacturer is responsible for paying when a jackpot is hit. My friend is equally sure that it's the casinos responsibility. Who wins? Question two: Whenever I read about Megabucks being hit, the winner almost always opts for the lump-sum payout. But how much the winner receives is never revealed. Why not? And do you know how much someone might wind up with?