Low Roller

In Las Vegas, the casinos refer to high-rollers as whales. The people who don't throw around a lot of money are called minnows. That's me.

When I visited Las Vegas almost two years ago, I signed up for a casino loyalty program. I used it to gamble a small amount of money, then put the card in the drawer when I got home and forgot about it. It stayed there until a couple of months ago, when we made a trip to the local branch of the casino. I remembered to bring the card with me and used it in each of the slot machines I used.

That trip was enough to excite the casino company; they smelled fresh meat. Several weeks after our visit, I got coupons from them...one for a discount on food and two for a small amount of free casino play. (I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that the two free play coupons were for different time periods, the better to suck me in.)

However, since the idea of losing money at the casino doesn't appeal to me, I didn't make it a priority to go. I let one coupon expire, and the rest of them kept getting buried under other things on the kitchen island. Today they got used. Thanks to the President's Day holiday, both Tony and I had the day off. This morning when he was running errands he picked up a promotional calendar that had a coupon for the casino buffet, so we decided to use both food coupons and go there for lunch.

The casino parking lot was MUCH less crowded than the last time we were there on a weekend night. We were able to park in the second row, and it was a quick walk to the building. The complex has eight different places to eat; the buffet is on the second floor close to the entrance, up an escalator. We paid at the cashier, got a table, and went to get food. The buffet had multiple food stations--appetizers, salad, Italian, Chinese, "home cooking", and dessert--and I had to try each of them! Some time later, with full stomachs, Tony and I left to hit the casino floor.

This area was less crowded (and, thankfully, less smoky) than on the weekend. It was easy to find a machine that suited me. I'm a cheap gambler. I stick to the penny and nickel slot machines, and don't play a lot of lines with each spin. You don't win a lot that way, but it takes longer to run out of money. I inserted my free play coupon into the machine, and Tony watched while I played. I lost a bit, then won a bit (and got a voucher for my winnings), then lost a bit again. Then lost some more. Before I knew it the free money was gone. Tony found a machine to play, and I watched him. His money lasted longer than mine...he had a few substantial wins...but after a while he was finished too. I used my wins voucher then we both decided we'd had enough.

We grabbed a "complimentary" cup of coffee before we left, then walked back to the car and left. I suspect that based on my cheapskate ways today I won't be getting more free coupons anytime soon!