Thinking about this more.. For me, my trips to Vegas would always have poker as the centerpiece. There would be 8 hours of poker a day and the rest would be taken up by sleeping, pool, dining, craps, drinking etc.

Now that I don't find the poker appealing, I have to fill this 8 hours with other stuff and it's not as fun any more. My last trip I basically just ended up getting high and walking around and drinking. I don't have to go to Vegas for that!

Like I said in my post, there is still someone locally that decides which game to put on each channel.

You can watch all of the March Madness games online: https://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/ways-to-watch. Rent nice house/condo with TV, plugin Chromecast, watch what you want, profit.

Look I hate to derail this thread, but this is so wrong/misleading that I can't let it slide. If you have a basic cable package, you can watch any March Madness game you want. If you don't have a basic cable package, then I guess you're screwed, but you're also screwed for most other sporting events so I don't see why March Madness is any different.

Getting back to the original topic: I also had the epiphany over the past couple years that the only thing I really love to do in Vegas anymore is play poker, and even that is only worth traveling for during the WSOP (otherwise, the action is better where I live in California). I find Vegas to be a pretty cool city and wouldn't be opposed to living there someday, but as a tourist, they're definitely going after a different audience. If I someday become an AP at BJ/sports/something else I'll presumably go to Vegas a lot, otherwise I'm probably only going in June and July from now on.

NL games have gotten tougher everywhere but they are absolutely awful in Vegas. It's a pros job to do what he/she can to make the games enjoyable, and from my experience Vegas pros are terrible at this. In recent years it seems a lot of live bots have setup shop in Vegas. They are designed to make optimal decisions in the few hands that they play while having as little interaction as possible with the other players (except after getting sucked out on).

You should consider playing more PLO. In fact, the poker community as a whole should be trying to move more towards PLO and its variants. The games are so much more fun and the atmosphere is way better. I say that as someone who has also gotten sick of poker and admittedly mostly still plays NL (when I actually play poker). I was playing at a NL table this weekend where the topic of conversation was how boring poker is (everyone was in agreement lol)

+1

This year during March Madness I had a 5 channel split screen setup going so I could watch the 4 NCAA games and CNBC all at the same time. That was with YouTube TV ($35/mo).

The good news is that if young people are as broke as you think they are now, just wait until the next recession hits and see how broke everyone will be. Prices will plummet particularly if that recession happens to coincide with a bunch of new hotel rooms coming online as they are expected to in the next few years (Resorts World, Wynn expansion).

Yes, people will pay more money when they are deceived into doing so.

Yep. This is my crew's same setup every year.

They are staying alive the only way they can, and pulling their own noose tighter in the process. Slots are a dying antiquated form of entertainment. There are millions of entertainment options at home now that are more fun than Vegas. Video games are more entertaining and just as addicting as slots. And video games with in-game purchases are getting to be more profitable than slots too.

Remember when we just had boring TV at home, and maybe Atari Frogger? Back then Vegas had a real edge over your other entertainment options.

Since everyone posting in this thread appears to reference the 80s, I'll point out that that's exactly when all this **** went down. The Gordon Geckoization of corporate America, and the rise of unsentimental, unapologetically ruthless corporate raiders, happened. Half the country didn't notice and half of it cheered it on.

The rise of debt-fueled massive construction projects gave us the Vegas casinos we now hate. Corporations distracted people from the consolidation of casinos under two corporate umbrellas by waving $2/hr comps in their faces.

CEOs transitioned from caretakers of a family of workers to a hired gun sent in to coldly assassinate budget fat. If their minions were breaking the law, it was cheaper to change the law than to comply. Heads I win, tails you lose - if their gambles didn't pay off they offloaded their pensions to the federal government.

If you don't like being a number, fight back, but on corporate America's terms. Make money off of their stock (long or short) and then spend the money elsewhere.

+1

This is an interesting point about the old Horseshoe and I'm sure plenty of other casinos even today. I wonder how many places are just around to launder money. Casinos and strip clubs, nothing better for laundering money.

If you really want to follow that one team with other fans around you and are willing to travel to do that, why don’t you go to the city where that team plays its tournament and watch the game in the stadium or go to the team’s home city and watch it in a bar?

We live next to a party district that’s 2 Miles away from where they play the BIG 12 tournament and every year Iowa State fans take over our part of town. Last Spring one of our neighbors used AirBnB to rent their house to some fans and used that money for a family trip to Cancun for those 5 days. We might do the same thing next year.

This isn't true any longer (past 4 or so years at least). NCAA tourney games are now all shown on CBS, TBS, TNT, truTV - no longer at the mercy of the local CBS affiliate if you want to watch any game.

I definitely hear where many are coming from re: Vegas (especially to March Madness). I've been going to Vegas at least 1/year (every March for sure) since 1995. There have definitely been frustrations over the recent years for MM not even with the cost, but just general availability and convenience of getting some simple items (drinks, food, bets in-although app has solved).

As we (my group) have aged, going out at all hours is a novelty. We just want access to food, drinks and watch the games together. The lure of Vegas is all of us (who don't get together that much due to where we live and life in general-work, family) can meet up in a town and not have to worry about responsibilities at home/work for a few days. Folks can wander and do Vegas things if they choose &/or hang together and watch games.

I go every couple years another time in fall - enjoy that one with poker (even though games have gotten tougher) and football betting. Much more low key and I like as I hang out with other friends who I don't see often.

I'm hoping for MM that Vegas traffic is down due to legalized sports wagering, especially on the east coast which accounts for some heavy Vegas crowds. Not even worried about cost - just smaller crowds and convenience.

Yeah exactly. Much of the fun for me is in the anticipation. It is also only as fun as the people you are with. I did a guys trip in June and it was a blast. I plan to go with the wife in a few weeks and I am also really pumped for that.

The idea of not being at work and drinking by the pool with my wife is really fun. Then get cleaned up and head out to a nice dinner...that is all I need to get excited about.

The whole gambling scene is kinda cool but I don't need to log tons of hours. Poker is fun but I am over it and also don't desire to sit at a table for hour after hour waiting for a great spot.

Exactly. People who say millennials aren't into Vegas are wrong. Millenials are stereotypically all about experiences and not about owning stuff.

The younger generation is less about gambling and more about fun experiences like food and day-clubbing with friends.

Half of it is getting older, at least. I used to be able to go all day at the pool with they guy crew, having the big drinks, have a nice steak dinner with a lot of wine, then roam the strip til 2am..

Now I don't have much at the pool and after a steak dinner I'm falling asleep at 11pm latest.

We still have the old references and inside jokes but it's just not the same anymore.

The websites being down probably makes them easier to find for some people because more of them could be out walking around. This guy didn’t have trouble finding some to troll for his video. Also looks like they tried to rob him once or twice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksb5BkBu_4I&t=307s

And that’s what a lot of the escorts on the Strip look like, even in the casinos. Not much to get excited about.

For hookers, Tijuana is probably way cheaper than Sacramento and only a 5 hour drive from LV. $100 gets you pretty far down there.

What a putz.

Maybe the street hoes in front of the Tropicana look like that. Not the ones inside decent casinos.

I’ve seen plenty of girls like that inside casinos, even at places like Aria and Venetian, but usually past midnight at least. Not sure about the morning or afternoon.

Those girls don’t always stay outside places like PH and Cosmo. They will walk inside even if they have been trespassed. Security doesn’t always do something about it.

I always assumed that's what all the hookers in Vegas look like. No thanks.

I live in Europe and still love the vibe of Vegas. Will try to visit 2 times per year if the flight tickets are not too expensive . If you have enough money to spend it's difficult to get bored in Vegas. But I agree about the resort fees and how expensive everything is compared with only 10 years ago.

The independent escorts you can meet on their website are 100 times better than any you would meet on the street, in a bar, or in a casino. You just have to do your homework: read reviews, get pre-screened, and be willing to pay a little more for the quality.

+1
The "want to watch your team" post might have been relevant 10 years ago. It's trivial to watch every second of any game you want now at home for less than a dollar a day.

Going back to page 1 to quote this line.

It really is true and applies to more than just Vegas. I think of Vegas like an amusement park, if I went to Disneyland as a kid 3-4 times a year I would likely get sick of it. Or at the very least it would lose some of its shine.

Naturally older dudes hitting Vegas several times a year are going to get sick of it. I am 36 and usually only go to Vegas for 3-4 days every 2-3 years. Vegas to me is still awesome and retains its hype. Usually by day 3 I am ready to go home but day 1 is always pure HYPE.

There is a very steep diminishing return with Vegas. It goes from awesome to I am tired of this and want to go home all in about 2 days.

Resort fees suck but not enough that I would go somewhere else. I still love the pool, restaurants, and overall energy of the town.

If you are over 50 and don't like Vegas anymore you are probably just old and crusty (nothing wrong with that). I spend time in Palm Springs and it is perfectly quiet by the pool and you can walk back to your condo and mix a drink in 2 mins.

My bet is the Europeans and Asians still love Vegas because it is still novelty for them.

Like many of the posters here, I am also in my 40s and have been coming to LV fo the past 15 years. Most years it’s 3 weeks visiting, 2 weeks during the 4th of July and a random week in the fall. The past 5 years or so I find myself going more and more off strip for everything outside of poker (food, lodging). Being nickeled and dimed with fees by casinos on the strip and gouged for meals is a thing of the past. 80% of my meals are eaten off the strip, wheather it be China Town, Town Square or a steak at Morton’s. I find the service and quality of food better.