Is that unreasonable? I used to date a girl who worked at a popular meat-market bar in NYC's East Village, and on Friday & Saturday nights she would pull in over $1k in tips. (Yes, she was a lot hotter than nutzkicker probably is...)

A couple hundred a night isn't unreasonable for most bartenders but this guy is a blatant liar as evidenced by his claim of being a vegas bartender for seven years when an earlier post says he just moved out there three years ago from Illinois. In my book, he has no credibility with anything he says.

$500/night is pretty good. Just imagine how much he would make if he worked weekends!

NTeller85 may have his own problems but his main thesis is solid. There are way too many people who complain too much about the way Vegas is changing.

The town undoubtedly was built on drunk gamblers lured in by cheap accomodations and food and drink only to blow thousands at the tables. That's the past.

The future is ... different. Maybe it's millennials cramming 10 in a room and blowing thousands at the clubs. Maybe it's foodies flying in to blow thousands on blowfish sashimi. Whatever it is, Vegas is going to look different. Everyone can gamble closer to home now.

A lot of us probably remember dropping physical coins into a slot machine to score free drinks. Guess what - the casinos finally put their foot down. Even 10-15 years ago my friends and I got denied when we were too blatant about it.

I guess people want a casino that promises to make Vegas great again.

We need a Big Baller Brand Casino

I got used to seeing 6 or 8 girls sleeping in the same room. You have that in all party cities, Vegas, Cancun, Ibiza. The thing that really blows my mind is the fact that they often have 2 rooms but use one for everybody to sleep in and the other one as luggage/dressing room. Now you might think that second room is also used for private night time activities, but apparently that's a big no-no?

I don't think Vegas will ever attract lots of real foodies though. I'd say I know a decent amount of people who travel for food and they are talking about going to cities like London, Paris, Modena, San Sebastian or Tokyo but not Las Vegas. There's just nothing unique or original about food there. But I would agree that Vegas targets people who are willing to spend a lot of money on food just because they can.

This is for real? People fly all the friggin' way to Japan just to eat something??!?

Friends of mine did a 3 day trip from Paris to Tokyo to go here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyabashi_Jiro

There are foodies and there are "foodies." The "foodies" go to Vegas to eat at a restaurant with Gordon Ramsay's name on it. Foodies know Vegas is only food for "foodies" and go to lesser known destinations.

The mind boggles. They probably crapped it out before they even got home.

Yes, you should only eat great meals if they stay in your digestive system longer than lousy meals.

When I first came to Vegas 14 years ago, I remember getting free packs of smokes at Mirage!

Tokyo has the most Michelin starred restaurants in the world, and has for the past ten years. 227 restaurants in Tokyo have Michelin stars; 96 in Kyoto. Paris has 92. NYC has 77 (LOL). The food is probably the number one tourist draw to Japan.

I saw an article from March 2017 that has much higher numbers than what you've shown. For example, Tokyo has 302 as opposed to your 227.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/fo...n-stars/tokyo/


Paris has 144 instead of just 92.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/fo...n-stars/paris/


Kyoto has 135 instead of just 96.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/fo...n-stars/kyoto/


NYC has 99 instead of 77.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/fo...tars/new-york/


What I found particularly interesting was the number of 3-star restaurants in each city. The numbers are much closer:

Tokyo - 12
Paris - - 10
Kyoto - - 7
NYC - - - 6

227 restaurants. 302 stars.

Ah, okay; that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

Do you think there will ever be a day where Vegas stops comping drinks, period?

Local casinos in FL and IN charge for drinks. People who want to drink don't complain about it, they pay for it. It's not a lot -- way less than the nightclubs or fancy restaurants charge -- so that helps, but it's still a cost for the consumer.

Casinos in Vegas are a business and now that they are publicly traded companies, they will evolve based on what analysts recommend and market trends. They will not stick to old ways simply because "that's how we've always done it."

Trends show that gambling is a smaller and smaller percentage of casino revenue year after year. The free drinks were considered an expense towards generating more gambling revenue. Now, if selling drinks is calculated to bring in more revenue than the bump in gambling revenue from free drinks, the casinos will quickly change their business model.

Look at the most recent major changes of resort fees, parking fees, and changed odds on popular games like blackjack. If there is a model that suggests a change will increase revenue, a casino will selectively roll it out and if it works, it will go casino wide and then strip wide.

It's like poker. The game was different 15 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and even 2-3 years ago. If you play exactly how you played 10 years ago, you will see your win rate fall. If you adjust, you will maintain a good win rate and might actually make more money.

Evolution is the name of the game in business and in life. Those that fear change will be left in the rear view mirror waiting for a free drink.

Yes, and soon

The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share

There's an amazing documentary done about that sushi joint, called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. For people who like docs (or sushi, or food), I highly recommend it.

This is not getting enough love. For the guys who order liquor on the rocks or beer, you are safe. But for the rest of us who like mixed drinks, you can forget getting a "real" one. Let's forget quality, because there is a 0% chance of getting a good margarita or whiskey sour etc while playing on the floor but just a drink with the proper ratio of alcohol would be nice. And lest we forget, a "Crown and Coke" ordered on the floor usually contains absolutely no real Crown.

This is true (now days) in LV and in all the Southern casinos I've been in. I do believe this is something that's gotten worse in the last 3-5 years.

Go to a VP bar and get a drink mixed in front of you and watch the liquor poured right out of the bottle. Now go 25 ft away at a slot machine and order the same drink. 9 out of 10 times the drink you get at the slot machine is terrible and extremely weak.

So with all that said, I don't mind the "pay to play" mentality of the free drinks but give me a real drink if I actually earned it. If I haven't earned it, be honest and say, "we are going to bring you a watered down drink mixed with a well, not really Crown."lol My wife and I have gotten so tired of crappy drinks on the floor that we often just go to the bar and pay for them. At least I get what I want.

Duplicate

Matt Johnson in the house