Hey LVL,

Just got back home (England) from a week in Vegas and though there might be some legs in this thread.

Basically, please post here with examples of good and bad value which you've found in Vegas which might be useful to users going forward.

For example:

In the Rio:

Deli next to the Sports Book, mini bottle of wine was $6, which I though wasn't unreasonable.

In Rio gift shop: Bottle of water was $5.50 (no price on it, turned it down when I found at the till).

Also at the Rio it was 12 or $13 for a glass of wine at the bar immediately inside the main entrance, but it was a pretty sizeable measure in a comfy environment.

I'm sure there must be tons more that people have come across during the WSOP, so please add below.

(Side issue: As a relative newcomer to Uber, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was organised/signposted in the casinos)

Hi, I actually just got back from a stay at the Rio, and I myself am VERY value orientated as well lol.

- FREE water. Instead of buying or paying for water, you can get free water at Starbucks. There's a Starbucks right by the elevators, they'll give you a cup with a lid and you can just keep going there for re-fills. If you're in your room and too lazy to go down for it, you can just use the ice-machines on your floor lol.

- Smashburger at Rio. This was the first time I had ever seen this chain. At first glance, the menu at Smashburger seems a bit pricey, ~$10 for a burger. However, you can download their app and get a crazy deal for your first purchase, something like 50% off for a combo. The day after I did that, the app gave me a $1 off for my next purchase so I went back there again lol. Their burgers are actually really good, as are their garlic fries.

- The Sports Grill/Deli at Rio. The burgers and pizza here are actually pretty good and decently priced. Can get a double-patty burger which comes with fries for $11 (the fries are damn good). If you want to split something with a friend, you can get a whole pizza for like $16 which is more than enough for 2 plp, only $8 per person! Note, they actually charge you 50 cents if you want a cup of water.

- The infamous Rio buffet. I went with a friend who lives in Vegas, locals get 25% off! If you don't know any locals, there's a $5 coupon in the hotel room. Pro tip: If you're going for dinner, go before 6:30pm, or else the line gets crazy...

- Uber/Lyft. I had actually never used Uber or Lyft before this trip. I knew I was gonna need it so I did my research before signing up. I found a lot of $50 bonus codes for Lyft online, but when I used one, it was actually only $20. I got jipped. So a better way is if you're there with a friend, just use your friends referral code or have your friend use your referral code. This way, you'll BOTH get a $20 bonus.

some decent advice but the rio buffet is nasty.
and unless something changed in the last couple of years locals get 25% off all restaurants at rio including the ones you mentioned.

How did the Brits get a reputation for being cheap? No offense, I'm cheap too.

Across the street at the Gold Coast almost everything is cheap. $2 hot dogs in the sports book. $2 Heinekens during football season. Free shuttle to the Orleans where more cheap goodness is found. There's a discount liquor store with a good selection. Movie theater, bowling, etc.

$1 bottles of Michelob from the bar at Casino Royale.

Also, someone will slip flyers under your door for delivery pizza at good prices.

Regular visitors to Vegas should know to buy American Casino Guide ($15) and/or Las Vegas Advisor ($40).

Both are full or 2 for 1 buffet offers and $10 -$25 matchplay.

My LVA came with a 2 for 1 to Wicked Spoon at Cosmopolitan. Definitely a great value.

Tipping?

You say cheap, I say value-oriented

That's why I called the thread Vegas value rather than Vegas on the cheap though.

Thanks for reminding me about the Gold Coast, have stayed there before.

Second this. The LVA is an unbelievable value if you're even a somewhat frequent visitor to Las Vegas. Keep in mind there aren't really too many coupons for Strip casinos, but there are a huge number of freeplay/dining coupons for Downtown and also off-Strip properties.

IIRC there are like 4 or 5 $25 matchplay coupons in the LVA. That alone justifies the cost of the book, not to mention all of the other freeplay money, 2 for 1 buffet offers, and other random freebies. Incidentally, I got insanely lucky and won every single matchplay that I played on blackjack.

Yo are all these match-play and free-play deals legit?!

I looked through the list of all the offers (http://www.americancasinoguide.com/l...s-coupons.html and https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/member-rewards-list/) and most of em seem kinda meh...All the food offers and show offers don't seem that great, and if I go by myself, they're pretty much worthless.

And most of the deals are in downtown joints, or random off-strip places. Aside from the Nathan's BOGO deal and the Hooter's hot-wings deal, nothing seems enticing.

But what piqued my interest were all the free-play and match-play offers! I'm tempted to get these booklets just to grind all these bonuses! Are they all 100% legit? I don't wanna have to jump through hoops, wait around for hours, go through crazy signup/verification processes for every free-play coupon.

Yea, if you go solo, the 2for1 buffets are obviously useless, but some of those coupons are of the '2 for 1 or 50% off 1 buffet' variety, so you can even find value in those.

The freeplay/matchplay bonuses are absolutely legit. I had 0 problems/hassles using any of them. Just go to the players club of the casino, sign up for their card (if you don't have one already), and just tell them that you'd like to use a coupon in this coupon book. Then they'll either give you matchplay coupons, or if it's a freeplay, it'll be credited to your account immediately. No hoops to jump through.

This part seems to be important though - DO NOT TEAR OUT THE COUPON BEFOREHAND. The LVA cautions this on all their coupons, but I just wanted to reiterate it. I don't know if some casinos will take a pre-torn out coupon, but why risk it. Just take the coupon book with you to the players club.

I spent probably a couple hours Downtown hitting up all the casinos and using up the freeplay. I think at the end I ended up profiting about $250 or something like that. Again, I won every single one of my $25 match plays, so don't take this to be the typical outcome.

When I stayed at the Planet Hollywood I would always go into the convenience store in the nearby mall to get cheap booze. Though now that I think about it, I could've just gotten free booze from the penny slots....oh well.

I'm staying at the Palms this weekend and I saw a dude literally playing video poker for 1c per hand and racking up them free drinks. I guess they're not as stingy here as the strip casinos.

Hi thanks for the info. I ended up ordering both the LVA and ACG, waiting for them to arrive in the mail.

In the meantime, I've been mapping out everything on Google Maps. I noticed that there are a lot of overlapping freeplay/matchplay deals. For example, both guides offer a $25 matchplay coupon for The D. Am I gonna be able to use BOTH coupons? Or are they going to exclude me from using the other coupon once I've already used one?

Ellis Island
$2 pints of beer
$8 steak dinner
$15 full slab of ribs

Orleans
TGI Friday's
$6 apps and drinks after 7pm (I think)

Once you get off the strip, it's normal everyday prices.

My tips (some already mentioned):
- Gold Coast Liquor store, last time I went, I noticed the prices on their more 'top-shelf' liquor was pretty good. Also, the seafood buffet (Thursday only?) is actually pretty good. Note it's been a few years since I've been to the GC, your mileage may vary.
- Ellis Island BBQ/brewery. Not a big selection (Ribs? Chicken? Both?) and the beer was only okay (better then macro-brews, but I'd rather drink Sierra Nevada or Laguintas)
- Fremont Street for the cheap gambles, Binion's Saturday tournament, and the (free!) people watching.
- Last time I went it was during EDC, huge EDM festival, hotel prices were outrageous! I did VRBO (like airbnb) for $65/night, no resort fees. Drove to/from the Rio (for WSOP), used Lyft for almost all other in city travel.
- Chinatown (west of the 15?) has a bunch of really great restaurants, some of which are very reasonably priced.

This still exists? That's awesome! The blackjack switch odds use to be some of the best odds anywhere back in the day... which was 2007/2008.

Theres a free shuttle bus between The Orleans and The Linq. Leaves every 30 or 40 minutes. Im sure there is other free shuttle too, but I have only used this

If you are in Vegas for like 2-3 weeks, get a Lyft/Uber pass. I spent nearly $50 a day in Lyft (80%) and Uber (20%) transportation alone. Renting a car wouldn't have been cheaper if I have to account for parking fees.

I recommend spending $550 (IN EV) in Video Poker and acquiring Diamond Status. One of the best investments in Vegas that pays itself off literally.

a large corporation can get water for 10 cents a bottle. I just got 24 20 ounce waters at Costco for 4.99

Tipping the cocktail waitress $1 for those small Rio water bottle during the series makes me want to cry each and every time. Feels like such a rip when I can get Fuji anywhere else (AND 2.5x the size)!

$1 watermelon juice at the Aria.
$8 watermelon juice at Lemon Grass in the Aria.

Lucky Penny's (I think that's what it's called) at Palms for breakfast.

most of the menu is around 12 bucks for a pretty huge meal. Chicken fried Steak and eggs is 13.99 or something and it was so much food I couldn't finish it.

I know it is isn't it? It was available last year and the website still lists it as available

http://www.casinoroyalehotel.com/dining/

Don't they have some crazy craps odds as well?

Pretty sure they had 100x odds. Many years ago a big group of us in our mid 20s cleaned our a blackjack switch table for nearly 20k. The floor was less than pleased.