Quick funny story about my one and only Reno trip.
A friend at work talked me into to trying Reno so I set up a trip for mid March. Oh stupid me, thought Reno must be the same climate as Las Vegas so I packed nothing but shorts and light T-shirts for the trip.
Yeah it was snowing the 1st day I got there and I learned the hard way that it's right by the Lake Tahoe which was still open for Ski season in March. I got some really funny looks walking around in shorts and a T-shirt with everybody else wearing heavy winter coats. That was a harsh Geography lesson.
I took my Vegas trips mainly just for gambling, not much for sites and shows.
I mainly play craps but dabble in other games. 22-27 years ago I took around 4 trips per year of 7 days each to Vegas gambling or about 140 days total gambling over a 5 year period (before I got married & my daughter was born). I kept very close tabs on my money throughout those 5 years. I cannot say I came out ahead but I can honestly say I didn't lose a single dime either. So I consider that a Huge Win and got lots of comps for gambling so the trips were dirt cheap. Each trip only cost a few hundred dollars after comps and really enjoyed those trips.
Sure there were some trips I lost 2-3 thousand dollars but their were some trips I won 2-3 thousand. It all worked out to exactly even within $100 total after about 20 7 day trips to Vegas over 5 years. Contrary to that, the local Casinos like the Joliet Riverboats were money grabs. I could never go to those and have much success. you're just pissing your money away and the comps are almost nonexistent.