Saturday, February 25, 2012

Las Vegas vs Atlantic City (part 1)



The first casinos I went to were in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  And then, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Las Vegas blew Atlantic City away.  My interests are more inclined to seeing the places, and exploring , rather than seriously gambling, so it couldn't have been otherwise.

Now the times that I went to Atlantic City, I was only there for a few hours each time.  That is pretty normal.  I lived on the east coast, and in the local free newspaper there were advertisements for day bus trips to Atlantic City.


The deals were actually good; something like: go to the local stationery store and buy a trip to (for example) The Showboat in Atlantic City.  For 20 dollars  (US $20) you would get a ticket.  Then stand in the same shopping center (a typical local one with a market, bakery (don't see them in Las Vegas) etc.) for the bus.

The casinos in Atlantic City each have their own miniature bus terminals with enough stalls to make clear where a lot of their business comes from.


[original 2012 http://royvegas.blogspot.com]

Four, or four and a half hours after getting on the bus at the stationery store, (which by the way, made stops at other stationery stores) the bus arrived at The Showboat.  After walking past the slow throngs with walkers, followed by walking past the few stilt walkers (their version of the Walmart greeter), I arrived at a window, handed over a ticket stub, and was given a roll of $20 in quarters; the same amount I had paid for the trip.

Also included were a few other tickets for free things.  Something like a hot dog, small bag of potato chips  and coke at the snack bar.  Totally free.  Not crap like buy a hot dog and get a free small coke; totally free.  And the quarters were not match play, they were quarters that you could keep instead of playing if you so chose.

The entire time there, was a countdown until the return trip which was 5 or 6 hours later.

...To be continued.

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