Quoted from NY2Colorado:

Free drinks and affordable buffets in Black Hawk, Co..

Quoted from mbaumle:

Being from south Jersey, I feel like it's my duty to shamelessly plug in an Atlantic City comment here.
Sure it's failing and falling apart, but a good time can still be had for cheap down here. Tropicana always has a nice vibe, as does Harrahs and the Borgata (the latter being a little more upmarket). The Golden Nugget has a marina with bands that play on the water.
Even better, it doesn't have all those people flicking those cards at you on every corner. It's all pretty low key.

Quoted from PinHead2112:

I used to go to LV 5-6 times a year in the early 90's. Wife worked for AA, so 20$ round trip on stand by. Had a cousin that was the hotel manager. (Palace Station, it was not on the strip). Free rooms. 8 bucks for a round trip pass on a bus from the airport. He would usually throw in a few free meal tickets if it was the slow time of year. Was cheaper for me to go to vegas then it was to stay home for the weekend. Would take 50-100$ to play 1$ blackjack. If I lost it all no biggie, and a few times I actually won a few K. For sure not like that any more. Worst case I would spend 200$ for the weekend and would eat good and have a blast. Last time I was there was for a wedding and it was expensive. A lot changed from the early 90's to the mid 2000's.