In 2003, about 35.5 million tourists visited Las Vegas, collectively spending almost $33 billion. Perhaps surprisingly, gaming accounted for less than 25 percent — or not quite $8 billion — of these tourist dollars. Hospitality revenues (food, lodging, entertainment) in Vegas have finally eclipsed gambling revenues, and you can bet that big casinos everywhere are paying attention.

This means casino-going tourists have more choices than ever, and the best way to get the maximum bang for your buck is to think about how much of everything you want to do, and how much you want to spend to do it all.

For our purposes, we won’t consider the cost of transportation to the casino destination. And since we’re talking in general terms, we also won’t go into the many cost-cutting strategies you would nevertheless be wise to pursue (going in the off-season or midweek for better hotel prices, early bird meal discounts, casino comps, etc.). Most casino tourists travel at least in pairs, don’t bring kids, and few stay longer than three nights. So our model will be two tourists sharing a room at a casino hotel for three nights total. We’ll round the Vegas budget to $950 per person, so that’s what our model tourists have to spend. In essence, the principal slices of your budgetary pie will be lodging, dining, entertainment, and of course, gambling.

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Lodging
Since almost every hotel bases rates on double occupancy, having two people in a room is one of the best ways to defray costs. Three or four people in a room drives per-person lodging costs down even further (though there’s usually a small per-extra-person fee). Note that few properties will allow more than four people in a room anymore, though some will make an exception for children. Another statistic: The average nightly room rate in Las Vegas in 2003 was $83. You can pay less than that — and much, much more — even within the confines of one large casino-hotel. But let’s say you want a little nicer room than average, and round that figure off to $100 a night. For three nights, that comes to $300 for our couple, or $150 per person total.

Dining
Your food budget is limited only by your wallet and appetite. Many temples of fine dining have established locations in big casinos, and there are still plenty of dining rooms that cater to high rollers. But cheap dinner specials still draw gamblers in, even as others pay top dollar for rib eye and lobster. You wouldn’t want $6 prime rib every day, but a casino vacation is rarely focused on haute cuisine. Leisurely enjoyment dictates casual breakfasts ($10 per day). The legendary casino buffets and coffee shops are on deck for lunch and dinner ($15 per day for lunch, $25 per day for dinner). Still, you’re on vacation, after all, so let’s allow for one dinner in a nice restaurant, away from the hectic casino pace. For $75 each on that special night, you can even split a bottle of wine. That brings your trip-total dining bill per person to $200.

Entertainment
Since casino entertainment usually takes the form of shows, what you spend will be dictated by your personal tastes. Some people have zero interest in shows, while others may want to sample everything from the inexpensive afternoon revues to the giant mega-productions. More and more, though, seeing a show is touted (by the casinos selling the tickets, of course) as a highlight of a casino vacation. Assuming you’re the type and buy the hype, allocating $100 per person will get you a seat in even the most lavish shows — or allow you to see two of the more modest productions.

Gambling
If you budget for nothing else, budget for gambling. Decide on a figure you can afford to lose — and be prepared to lose it all — but you can certainly have fun losing it. Just remember to stick to your stake limit, and like Kenny Rogers said, know when to walk away. If we assume that you’re comfortable with gambling generally, we’ll also assume you’d like to try a variety of games (so we’ll give you a bit more cash than average to play with). Slot machines and video poker will certainly demand a portion of your time and money, so allocate $100 to play a variety of machines, betting 25 cents to $1 per spin. Table games, like blackjack, poker, and craps, are the most fun and social, but they’re also the most expensive; stick to friendly low-minimum tables, and allow yourself a stake of $200. Glorified arcade games like roulette and the sadly misnamed “Wheel of Fortune” are worth $50 just to say you tried them, but they ultimately can be even less stimulating than slots. This gives you a generous gambling budget of $350 per person, which should be enough to provide plenty of action. Assuming relatively conservative play and comfortable breaks for meals, rest rooms, and other distractions, this budget should allow for two to three hours of leisure gambling per day.

Everything Else
Our total so far is $800 per person, which puts us well below our limit of $950. But there are plenty of ways to spend besides lodging, dining, entertainment and gambling. Any vacation will have miscellaneous expenses, from taxi cabs to cocktails to souvenirs. All the big casinos have attached malls containing everything from outlet stores to premium boutiques to upscale restaurants and nightclubs, so there’s plenty of ways to redistribute those casino winnings. At the very least, you might want to fork over a few bucks for a T-shirt from your casino, just so friends and family know where your last few paychecks went.

Chris Mohney is a contributor to "The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas."

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