Category: Lifestyle & Travel Tips

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The Greatest Coupon I Never Used

Bobby Vegas: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play Triple-Zero Roulette

In Vegas, there is literally a coupon for everything.

Meanwhile, it’s been a great week for this scuffler.

I just discovered the hilarious Kristen Bell movie Queenpin, about two extreme couponers who sell stolen coupons on the web and make millions. Okay, they go to jail, but still … they totally capture the couponer zeitgeist.

Of course, this is the kind of thing that drives Anthony crazy and “ruins it for the rest of us.” Agreed. Last year, in one example of this, a bar released a coupon that was too good to be true. Anthony warned them it would be a problem and sadly, it’s not always fun being right.

Still, Queenpin is a very fun movie with the ever-perky Kristen Bell and a small part for Vince Vaughan, who just looks … tired.

Bringing it back around to Vegas, some buds were there for CES. One called, then said he’d get back to me after dinner; they were eating at some Gordon Ramsey place. I knew I wouldn’t hear from them again, being their big night in Vegas. I did receive a “Sorry, I’ll text you later.”

I replied, “Everyone’s drunk or getting there, you’re trying to decide what strip club to go to, and you’ve lost your buy-in twice at the tables. It’s okay, John — you’re in Vegas. Enjoy yourself.”

I was, not surprisingly, right on all fronts. But things really took off when his buddy’s wife said, “Let’s go see some titties.” Why couldn’t I have married a girl like that? You’ll find out in a hot minute.

Did you know lap dances at Sapphire are now like $300 for 15-20 minutes? Well, John Boy paid for three. No wonder Vegas is making so much money.

That reminds me of one of my only other strip club stories. I’m not a strip club guy, but a client demanded I take him to Spearmint Rhino. There, he proceeded to tell the girls he was a plastic surgeon from New York City, thinking of relocating to Vegas. He had a lot of interesting “interactions” with the ladies, asking him to evaluate their boob jobs.

And this, in a way, brings me all the way back to the greatest coupon I never used.

It was years ago and I saved it, but couldn’t find it when I was writing this post. I know it wasn’t from the Member Rewards Book. It might’ve been from American Casino Guide. Wherever it came from, it was for a free lap dance! No kidding.

I just love the absurdity of asking some lovely for a lap dance and handing her a coupon! OMG!

And that’s the beauty of … Well, there are many things about this concept that are beautiful. But really, if you look hard enough, in Vegas there’s a coupon for everything.

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Super Bowl Vegas update

Bobby Vegas: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play Triple-Zero Roulette

What I’ve learned? AFGE. AFGE? That’s “Another Effing Growth Experience.”

So we’re sitting at the bar at Circa last March and my client, a national sales manager, tells me my Encore Villa gig (see previous post) was the best corporate event in the company’s history.

I already knew that. I saved them $100,000 and launched their new EV-charger line, selling a million simoleons’ worth in 90 days. But I’m cool, so I say, “Let’s do it again. For the Super Bowl! Upstairs at Stadium Swim.

He’s cool too. “I’m in for fifty K.”

“Great!” (Lesson One: Stop talking after you close the deal.) And we go to dinner at Barry’s Prime.

Lesson Two: Get it in writing.

Lesson Three: Get my fee upfront.

A month before the event, he cancels.

Now, I’m a guy who grew up in very unstable environments, so I always have back-up plans. Yes, plural: sometimes back-up plans to my back-up plans.

So it was good I’d made a completely separate set of reservations and, since I’d been greasing palms, I flip the deposit. Phew. But wait! What?

My casino host quit? Ruh roh.

Okay, but are my reservations still good? Yes? Pass the CBD, please.

See, I still have a dozen folks flying in and those rooms I booked last August? They’re gold today, literally half-price for Super Bowl weekend. Should I have resold the cancels? Hmm.

Then the corporate guys are on the fence. “Well, we might go.”

Lesson Four: Bang head on desk. Repeatedly. ’Til numb.)

“Wait. The other sales manager is going and he wants two extra rooms.”

Oh! The ones I cancelled because of you? ARGHHH.

Well, it’s a good thing I’m on a first-name basis with the entire reservations department, so I take three back and they give me my original rate. How good? $875 for Super Bowl weekend Downtown Grand Gallery Tower kings, Friday through Monday, taxes and resort fee included. Today those rooms are $1,600. And I still have 11 reservations.

And did I mention that I employed my Super Bowl futures strategy? (Lesson Five: Hedging is a good bet.) I’ve won on the Super Bowl three years in a row (Bucs, Rams, Chiefs). I expected to blow this year, but guess what? Even though I had the Lions and Ravens, I’m still carrying the 49ers and am a 100% Brock Purdy fan. I am, however, nervous about the Taylor Swift effect and the very dangerous Chiefs juggernaut. Well … we’ll see.

To be continued …

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Since You Asked — Circa Sports Book

Since You Asked — Circa Sports Book

The Circa sportsbook is a sight to behold. With its three-story wall of video screens faced by stadium-style seating, this place is so huge that it has its own escalators.

The center section is by reservation only. Private booths in the back of the center section are pretty much for high rollers, but the front of the center section is a couple of rows of recliners. This is the place to be, in my opinion. While the prices for football weekends are insane, the cost for the recliners for midweek games, even Monday Night Football and the NBA Finals, is much more reasonable, in the $150-$200 range. Even better, that’s a minimum food/beverage spend, rather than a rental fee, so if you’re going to eat or drink more than the price, the seat is essentially free.

The recliners are very comfortable and the views from there are exceptional. You’re also steps away from the counter, so it’s easy to go up and back to make your bets. You can also use the Circa app and not have to go to the counter at all.

If you don’t want to spend that much money, the two side sections consist of first-come first-serve seating, though for a big event, you’ll likely have to line up hours ahead of time.

Now for the bad news.

While Circa has lots of food options, the only two that deliver to the sports book (and count toward your minimum) are Victory Burger and Project BBQ, neither of which I can recommend. I didn’t actually have a burger from VB, but the fries were too salty and the wings were pretty poor (granted, I’m a wings snob … so your mileage may vary).

Project BBQ was also disappointing. The sauce on the pulled-pork sandwich was too vinegary, the meat was too fatty, and the homemade chips weren’t as “chippy” as I like them. To each their own and maybe you’ll like the food better than I did, but unfortunately, despite the awesome atmosphere, this is enough to dissuade me from going back anytime soon. But every sports fan should check this place out at least once.

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Is That F1 or FU?

Giving Good Gamble

“If you build it, they will come.”

So whispered the voices of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other baseball players in the baseball diamond in the sky (in Field of Dreams), and come they did. But that was the movies.

This is Vegas. Build it they did. And boy, did we come.

And for decades, Vegas has created one more outrageous chart-topping spectacle after another: stars, tigers, stars with tigers, volcanos, pyramids, dancing fountains, the Eiffel Tower, jumping off 1,000-foot-tall buildings, shooting machine guns, men and women in all states of undress, $10,000 drinks, magicians, Allegiant, and now … Formula 1.

My only question is, have they gone too far this time? Did they maybe bite off more than we could chew, let alone swallow?

Well, they sure fouled up the traffic and for an auto-race event, that seems … kind of auspicious, just not in a good way.

Okay, forget for a moment the incredible disruption to anything near the Strip for the past months and look, I was excited too! I mean, did you see the movie Grand Turismo? On IMAX? I did. Amazing. Incredible race action, the camera work is Oscar worthy. Incredible true story, too, about a young gamer, the best in the world, who becomes an F1 driver and places third at LeMans in his first year.

And maybe $30 with the popcorn.

But today from Vegas, I got an offer for a free room at the Mirage during F1. Wow!

Wait. What? I need to buy two $4,000 (plus “fees”) tickets to the Mirage F1 VIP experience to get my “free” room? Um … I’ll pass. In the slow lane.

Sometimes even Vegas overestimates the disposable income of a large group of people. There is a word for this: “greed.”

Yes, I want to see F1, but you won’t find me ponying up $10K for a weekend. And I don’t know about you, but to me, it seems like the rush to be a part of this history isn’t exactly roaring down Las Vegas Boulevard. In fact, we’re stuck in traffic for an hour on the Strip while they try to construct the track and grandstands so they can drive hundreds of miles an hour. A double order of irony, anyone?

Really, F1, I wish you well. I hope I’m wrong and once again you’ve found another spectacle to draw in the folks. Well, maybe not “ folks,” but like the type of people for whom spending $10,000 on a weekend is no big deal. But excuse me if I add that the Sphere, the one that’s not rolling or going anywhere, has got you beat. By a mile. By a mile.

Sphere: Five Stars.

F1: TBD.

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Las Vegas Grand Prix Updates

Las Vegas Grand Prix Updates

[Editor’s Note: Here are some recent updates regarding the Formula One race. They were graciously provided by our F1 expert and LVA correspondent extraordinaire, Peter R.

Tickets

Leftover F1 tickets are for sale at $200 a day for grandstand seating, but only for Nevada residents and, as far as we can tell, only today through midnight. The press release was utterly opaque, but news reports indicate that the $200 price ends exactly at the end of today. (Don’t quote us.) The former best price was $500 for general admission, standing room only, for all 3 days. Formula 1 is touting the lower price as compensation for locals who suffered through all the road construction and closures, but obviously it’s an attempt to get rid of unsold seats.

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Book the Super Bowl NOW

Book the Super Bowl NOW

First is the Super Bowl, one of the greatest sports, cultural, and marketing spectacles ever.

Then there’s experiencing the Super Bowl in Vegas: sports betting to the moon, celebrities, whales, celebrity whales, best of the best getting down, awesome parties everywhere, prices through the roof.

Then there’s experiencing the Super Bowl, actually happening in Vegas, at Allegiant Stadium.

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A Whale of a Story

A Whale of a Story

We gamblers and advantage players. We’re complicated.

We’re smart, obsessive, and we make great stories. The greatest of all was Kerry Packer.

I know it’s ironic: A coupon scuffler let’s-get-it-for-free guy like me is fascinated by the biggest whale of all time. Sure, it’s goofy, but the question remains, what can we learn from them?

When Packer’s father died in 1974, Kerry inherited a $100 million Australian media and casino empire. He was apparently dyslexic, a poor student in some ways and clearly brilliant in others.

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Immersive Disney Is a Trip

I was back in Vegas last month and did the Disney Immersive exhibit at the Lighthouse ArtSpace at The Shops at Crystals.

It might surprise you to learn that my second favorite place to visit is Las Vegas. My wife and I are big Disney fans and she has no interest in Vegas, so my favorite place to visit is actually Disney World. In fact, we specifically moved to Florida to be just a car ride away.

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