The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Monday, March 26, 2012

A "big" casino win!

Yesterday morning we left Mick and Sandy's and headed south. We wanted to go the the Outlet stores at Primm, Nevada which is right on the border of Nevada and California.

Las Vegas is certainly located in the middle of the desert. We took a circular route to Primm, so we went through the middle of nowhere town of Searchlight, Nevada.

Not much to see in the middle of the desert.

Desert scenery.

There was an old car club out for a Sunday drive.

The main highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

I found it a kind of a boring drive. I don't think I could spend much time exploring the desert. I much prefer some greenery and trees. 

The community of Primm exists because it's right on the border of California so people come there to gamble. There are three large casinos and the outlet stores...and not much else. We spent about $118 on clothes...that'll do for another year! We got some good deals, but you really have to pick and choose. I got two pairs of shorts and a pair of jeans, and Ruth got a bunch of undergarments and two pair of pants.

Just as we were entering the outskirts of Vegas, we saw another casino. It was simply called "M". I looked at Ruth, and asked if she thought we should check and see if their players club includes any freebies. She said "well, we're driving right by it", so we stopped in.

As we're signing up, the girl says we get a choice of either a free t-shirt or $5 in free slot play. I thought about the t-shirt as a souvenir, but quickly decided on the $5 each. We found a machine we liked, and within minutes I had a $78 win! We cashed out and left the place. I don't think we were in there more than 20 minutes. Nice!

We headed to two more casinos near the strip, but slightly out of the way. We had coupons for Terrible's casino buffet. Two for one, at $8.99...good thing it was cheap because it wasn't very good. But I also had a coupon for 2000 free players points for signing up for their club and that gave me another $5 or so. So it was a worthwhile visit because even though it wasn't a great meal it was almost free.

One more stop at the LVH casino where we walked away with another $15 cash. We have now won a total of $202 without gambling a dime of our own money!

Some of the casinos are getting sneaky with this free play money. You're not allowed to cash out until you've used up your free play, yet they don't tell you when that is. So if you're not actually counting your spins you could easily continue using your own winnings when the free play is up. And I'm sure they're counting on that.

We made it to our new couchsurfing hosts Mike and Carol, and sat around talking for a couple of hours. We are going to make one more trip to the strip this evening to finish up exploring the hotel displays that we haven't seen yet. Tomorrow we're going out to do some more hiking, then Wednesday it's back to Mexico.

We're having a blast!

12 comments:

  1. You are doing great at the casinos good for you guys. Like you said not much greenery there in the desert, but some interesting trails etc, in certain ares and in the mountains. Glad you are enjoying Vegas now you can say, been there done that, keep havin fun.

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  2. I throw in the towel. We are never going to win as much as you two! Thanks for the tip about the sneaky casinos. We will watch closely. Happy for you two that you are having so much fun. Would you be having the same amount of fun IF you weren't winning...a thought to ponder...LOL ~wheresweaver

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    1. The answer is "YES" because we would never have lost. Remember, we're not betting with our own money. We were guaranteed to walk away ahead of the game, the only question was by how much... :-)

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  3. You two are my type of gambler!

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  4. I didn't want to spoil your fun but most of the 'deal' buffets are never very good in Vegas!

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  5. You two have reinvented the meaning of frugal!
    That's a serious kudo from a cheap Dutchman.
    Thanks for your blog, cheers, Peter from Langley, B.C.

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  6. Congratulations on your big win! Where else can you turn $5 in to $78. Nicely done!!

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  7. Great win. Last year when we were there, the casual cafe (not the buffet) at the Eastside Cannery had a prime rib dinner for $8.99 that was delicious. Came with salad and potato etc. I'd check before going though cause things change. it was a find from our friends who live there in Henderson. It is one of their favorite meal deals when they go out. Glad you are enjoying your vacation. :)

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  8. Break down and spend those winnings on a good headliner show and/or great dinner in a nice restaurant. If you only get to Vegas once in a blue moon, it would be a bon voyage celebration.

    Dee in South Carolina

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  9. That's a pretty good return on a $0 investment!! Congrats on playing smart. There are a couple of good buffets in Las Vegas and Reno but the good ones are not cheap. Oh well, at least they're filling.

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  10. Howdy R&K,
    Y'all are doing great except in the eating part!! They have probably dropped the quality of food because people just stop by for dinner and don't drop much.. My brother
    was 'shanghaied' to Vegas by his wife & kids once; when he stepped off of the plane he dropped a quarter in a slot, won $300 and never spent a dime of his money..
    Glad y'all are having such a wonderful time!!!

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  11. Very good!

    I suppose if you were to complain about the food, they could just shrug and point to their name. What do you expect? We're Terrible!

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