Surviving Sin City: Confessions From ‘The Strip’

LAS VEGAS — It’s 6 a.m. on a Thursday at Aria Casino, and there’s already a smattering of folks manning slot machines.

The smell of cigarette smoke is foreign but not unpleasant. There’s been so much written about the reversal of fortune for Las Vegas, but it can still drain your wallet like a drunk does another drink. Pleasantly surprised by the $5 coffee available at Aria Patisserie, we’re off to a good start on the work day.

It’s my first full day in town, and there’s a Thursday Night Football game between the Falcons and Bucs to preview. Atlanta has already been eliminated from the playoffs, and bettors at DraftKings are all over the favorite, with 82% of the spread handle and 85% of tickets on Tampa Bay. We’re going the other way.

DraftKings is my sportsbook of choice back in North Carolina, but it’s nowhere to be found in Nevada. DraftKings held a state license here, but never utilized it to conduct business. Then, the duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings recently withdrew from Nevada altogether.

In any case, Aria is an MGM property, and the BetMGM Sportsbook here is offering Falcons +5.5 (-105). We fade the public with the first bet of the day.

Fear & Loathing: Slot Machines Used to Scare Me

Fast-forward to Friday morning, and the Falcons are celebrating a 29-28 win over the Bucs. It feels so good to take a contrarian approach you firmly believe in and be validated by a win. I wish it happened more than half the time, but that’s the nature of sports betting.

As a purely recreational bettor, I’ve got a healthy respect for addiction, or rather, the fear of becoming addicted. Why does one human have a governor for their behavior, whereas the next guy can’t control himself? There but for the grace of God, go I…is the only way it makes sense to me.

I’m here with my wife, Donna, who has just concluded her Intercollegiate Athletic Forum for Sports Business Journal. There is nothing she enjoys more than playing slots in Vegas.

I think my fear of slots owed largely to my first trip to Las Vegas. Still a kid, I had the irrational fear that my stepfather was going to lose all of our money. He never did, fortunately, but the fear still lingered.

I’m usually more of a blackjack guy, but Donna helped convert me into a semi-slots player. IGT’s Wheel of Fortune machines are a magnet for my better half. There’s no denying the dopamine hits that come from playing and even observing, either.

As morning gives way to afternoon, it’s time for a walk along The Strip during lunch. Las Vegas is basking in record-high temperatures this week. In the mid-70s, and comfortable, as if the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority had ordered it up.

The smell of cigarettes is immediately replaced by cannabis when exiting the hotel. It becomes even more pungent on The Strip, where an Elvis impersonator rolls by me in a wheelchair, taking an oversized hit. Viva Las Vegas, indeed.

Weed is ever-present later that night at The Sphere, where the Zac Brown Band puts on a killer show. The venue exceeds expectations with its unique blend of imagery and sound.

The only downside is paying $22 for a Coors Light draft, something Pawn Stars’ protagonist Rick Harrison probably complained about during a recent Vegas visit.

Buoyed by Bourbon, Back to the Slots

The complimentary room bottle of Maker’s Mark has been replaced by a paid fifth of Buffalo Trace, which is sometimes hard to find in South Carolina. Not on The Strip, though, where every vice imaginable is at your fingertips.

As a reformed smokeless tobacco user who now satisfies those cravings with Zyn, I’m horrified to see a single can selling for $12. Back home, it was on sale for $14 a roll (five cans). One last vice for the night involves those slot machines. We head directly to the bank of Wheel of Fortune machines. I’ve got a voucher for $109 that Donna can use after losing $300 last night.

It’s sensory overload on this Friday night at Aria during rodeo week. Take the OVER on the number of cowboy hats in this casino up to 450.5. Folks are gearing up for the final day of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo tomorrow, and it could be a long day for some of them, given the bacchanalia on display.

To be sure, strange things sometimes happen here. Last year, high-roller Michael Duke Thomson woke up at Aria in handcuffs and with no memory of what occurred the night before. Insult to injury, hotel officials also told him he owed $75,000 in gambling markers. Thomson has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Nevada.

Anyway, back to the casino floor. Donna ends up doing quite well on Wheel of Fortune, turning $109 into $700. She astutely decides to walk away. There will be more play at the airport tomorrow, but all told, we will finish about break-even for the week.

Amen.