Accountants. The FBI and the local police like to take credit for running the Mob out of Vegas. It is my opinion that it was the accountants that ran them out.

My wife and I used to go to Vegas back in the Mob days. It was a great cheap vacation. I worked for an airline and February was airline appreciation month. We got rooms at the Tropicana for $7.77 a night. One time we got a suite a Caesar's for $11.77 a night.

Buffets were $1.77 for breakfast, $3.77 for lunch and $5.77 (sometimes $7.77) for dinner. There was always the $1.77 T-bone and 2 egg breakfast from The Sands from 2am to 5am.

Show tickets were usually under $10 and most casinos had a spin the wheel or a giant slot machine out front and you could win tickets.

So for about $60 we could spend a nice weekend out, gamble a little and have some nice meals and a show or two. Last month I spent 5 days there for a conference and it cost over $1000 for just myself (company money, not mine thankfully) and that didn't count any dinners (sponsor "wined and dined" us).

It's cheaper now to go to an all-inclusive in Cancun than it is to go to Vegas. Such a shame.

ken

We love the buffet in the Rio. When our son got married in Vegas a few years ago, we had the groom's dinner there. Buffet + full open bar for 3 hours. Dropped some serious coin, but it was worth it. People still talk about that meal.

When we go to Vegas we usually stay at the Rio, but I was disappointed that they don't have the "Show in the Sky" anymore. Used to have a lot of fun snagging those cheap beads and then giving them to the kids that didn't get any.

ken

I was just there for a tech conference and my wife got jealous, so I made arrangements to take her on Mother's Day weekend. Hotel prices were really down that weekend, but airfare took a big bite out of the gambling budget. But as they say, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!".

ken