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Five Ways to Save Money While Playing in Live Casinos

One pitfall to playing in a live casino is that there are a lot of ancillary charges involved with gambling and playing poker. Most players head out to the casino and don’t take these charges into account, and often end up paying through the nose. This cuts into profits and often results in a winning trip turning out into a break-even or a losing trip.

Below are a few tips that you can use to save money while playing at live casinos.

Stay Away from the Casino

While there is a bit of excitement that comes at staying at the casino you’re playing at, often it is a better idea to book a room away from the casino you’re playing at. There are a couple of reasons. For starters, you will probably pay a lot less by staying at a hotel in town or an adjacent town to your casino.

For example, in Atlantic City, I tend to avoid staying at the casino but rather drive 10 minutes to Absecon where the room rates average about half of what you pay at the casino. Another advantage of staying away from the casino is that it allows you to wind down from playing at the tables and helps to prevent a convenient trip back to the tables when you should be resting.

Use Your Own Transportation When Possible

If it is cost effective to drive to the casino or area where you’re playing, you will save a lot of money over flying there and taking taxis. A trip to Atlantic City costs me about $50 to $60 in gas as opposed to a $79 to $99 plane ticket. Also, once I am there, I can drive around for days on about $10 as opposed to paying $10 to $20 for a taxi ride each way.

Taking your own transportation also allows you to travel around and check out the area where you’re playing. Hard to do that when you have to rely on public transportation or taxis.

Avoid the Gift Shop

People love to frequent the gift shop in a casino, but often you are going to pay a lot more than you would normally for items that will likely just collect dust. Unless you can find some clearance merchandise or are just going in to grab a soda or bottled water, save your money and pass up on the gift shop.

Look for Deals on Food

There are plenty of places to eat in most casinos and smart shoppers will be able to dine on the cheap provided they look for deals rather than picking a restaurant and paying whatever it costs to eat there. Many restaurants offer specials based on the day of the week or time of day. For example, I used to enjoy a lovely steak and egg dinner at the Orleans after midnight when in Las Vegas.

Make sure you check with the casino to see if they have any coupon books for guests. Often, you can find awesome deals in these books. Also, a number of casinos have standard chain restaurants and fast food places. I can’t tell you how many times I have eaten at Subway inside the Orleans or Four Queens in Las Vegas.

Sign up for Player Rewards

Regardless of whether you go to a casino one time or l00 times, you should sign up for their player’s rewards program. These programs allow you to build up comp points that you can use at the casino for anything from food to rooms stays and even free play.

Many programs will give you complementary offers when you sign up. This ranges from free play to comped meals at the buffet, and more. One of my most memorable experiences was getting $20 in free play when I signed up for player’s rewards at Four Queens.

I took that free play and ended up running it up to over $250. That extra $250 ended up getting used to help cover my food and other expenses while I was there. Also, you will be presented with future offers from the casinos ranging from free stays to free play and more.

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