5/05/2008 at 5:15 PM
Tags: Sports Travel, Gambling, Horse Racing, Spring Travel (all tags)
Now that Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby, it's time to plan your future racing excursions. Next up on the calendar is the Preakness Stakes, run in Baltimore on May 17. The final leg of the three-race series is the Belmont Stakes, which takes over Elmont, New York on June 7.
It's totally possible to just head to the track and enjoy these events, though there isn't quite as much pomp and circumstance as there is at the Derby. Still, lots of people will be dressed to the nines and there's always tons of betting at horse races. (Yay, betting!) And for $25 at the Preakness and $10 at the Belmont, the races are some of the cheapest sports tickets around.
Related Stories:
· The Preakness [Official Site]
· Belmont Park and the Belmont Stakes [Official Site]
· Attending the Preakness [ESPN]
· Attending the Belmont Stakes [ESPN]
· Sports Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo of the Belmont ticket booths: JGNY]
by pbb
5/05/2008 at 12:30 PM
Tags: Casinos, Gambling, Restaurants, Sex (all tags)
Why are we not surprised that this news is out of Vegas? Caesars Palace is starting up summertime lunch-and-booze service at its Italian restaurant, Rao's. But rather than just have grilled food outside, the place is stepping it up with bocce courts and some Bocce Bellas, ostensibly hanging out to help you with your game.
The food menu is on the simple side, channeling that barbecue vibe with sausages, burgers and chicken wings. The specialty drinks sound a little sweet for our taste, but you can't really go wrong with pitchers of sangria.
The bocce bar menu is set to be a seasonal thing, starting this Thursday and running until just after Labor Day. And, yes, we have a gratuitous photo of the Bocce Bellas after the jump.
MORE...
by pbb
3/28/2008 at 10:00 AM
Tags: Movie Set Travel, Gambling (all tags)
21 is the story of six brainiacs who put their smarts to the test in Vegas, and took the town's casinos for millions in the 90s. Based upon fact, this week's pick is perfect for the card sharks.
Ben Campel (Jim Sturgess) goes to MIT and also needs to pay for it. He learns to count cards from Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) and the two quickly recruit friends such as Jill Taylor, played by Kate Bosworth, to join in, perfect the art, and take on Sin City. We hear it's a fascinating look at what actually happened, albeit some historical facts overlooked. Hey, it's a movie, they're never flawless.
In the spirit of gambling, we offer you some cool 21-related things to check out next time you're in Vegas. Just don't count cards - they'll ban you from the casinos!
Where To Stay:
Planet Hollywood Resort
The MIT boys hit the tables in the film at Planet Hollywood, where they score some major successes. While many of the casino scenes were actually filmed at the Aladdin and Venetian, check out PH for some authentic Vegas action. They've even got a "Pleasure Pit" where you can count cards, er, play blackjack and roulette at tables manned by women in lingerie. Book one of the Panorama Suites and get a 180 degree view of the Strip from your living room.
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by sedona
1/10/2008 at 3:00 PM
Tags: Casinos, Travel Media, Gambling (all tags)
The Consumer Electronics Show is wrapping up in Las Vegas, which means all the tech geeks and fameballs are clearing outta town. That means it's up to you to find the cheapest blackjack tables and spend, spend, spend. And when you're playing the three dollar tables, you can play all night.
Temporary Gridskipper correspondent Jordan Golson took a C-note to the Sahara to see not how much he could win but how fast he could go broke. Turns out, not fast:
After six hours, I'm still up $52. I have to do something to break the monotony. I vow that if I am up $100, I'm walking away, and I start playing badly. Of course, I win...
After six and a half hours, the casino is almost deserted, save for my hugely bored dealer, the cleaning staff, and a busty young woman who called to me from the slots, "Hey handsome, come see me when you're finished," as I returned from the bathroom.
If the glamourous life of $3 tables and prostitute solicitation is for you, your best bet is at older casinos. The Sahara is one, Sunset Station is another. Also worth a try is Imperial Palace. Not into blackjack? The ever-shady Ellis Island Casino and Brewery has an off-menu $5 full steak dinner.
Related Stories:
· Dying to Lose in Vegas: The $3 Blackjack Death March [Gridskipper]
· The Sahara [Official Site]
· Sunset Station [Official Site]
· Imperial Palace [Official Site]
· Las Vegas Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: ishane]
by pbb
10/04/2007 at 9:30 AM
Tags: Crime, Europe Travel, Gambling (all tags)
We've long thought of playing bingo as a crime against common decency, but a real crime? Who would've thought? Certainly not the British tourists in Turkey who just got taken to the police station and fined for playing bingo at an Altinkum bar in the hope of winning a drink.
British holidaymakers Sarah Holland and Carla Harrison had this to say of their run-in with some Turkish police who considered the bingo game unlicensed gambling:
They seized the bingo ball and took our tickets away from us. It was a terrifying experience and very scary.
So if anybody in Turkey tries to talk you into playing bingo, just say no. Unless you're an elderly pensioner with a bingo addiction that shouldn't be too hard, right?
Related Stories:
· Tourists Seized For Playing Bingo [BBC]
· Dirty Bingo in the Meatpacking District [Jaunted]
· Turkey Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Turkey [HotelChatter]
[Photo: sleepydisco]
by amandak
2/16/2007 at 9:57 AM
Tags: Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Gambling, Las Vegas (all tags)
Spirit Airlines just announced that it will launch daily non-stop service between Atlantic City and Las Vegas on May 3. Introductory fares are $79 each way, but you can expect to pay more like $230-$280 round trip, once you factor in taxes and the fact that you may not be able to skip off only on those off-peak days. We pulled up a fare of $279.30 for a May 10-13 sample trip. Not that bad.
We'll give them credit for the smart timing: flights leave their respective cities in the evening, so you'll have more than enough time to drag yourself out of bed. Spirit's current front page ridiculous flash animation doesn't revolve around the new route (right now it's some sort of samurai thing), but rest assured that the Atlantic City/Vegas deal will make it into the funnies soon enough.
[Photo:
Alvaro's Flicks]
Related Stories:·
Spirit Airlines Announces Nonstop Service from Atlantic City to Sin City! [Spirit Airlines]
·
Spirit Airlines, At It Again [Jaunted]
by djk
1/31/2007 at 12:42 PM
Tags: Casinos, Gambling, Kazakhstan Tourism, Borat (all tags)
It's official: President Nursultan Nazarbayev, no longer busy vogueing for his country's tourism commercials, has passed a law requiring all casinos to be located in one of two approved cities: Kapchagai or Shchuchinsk. Kazakhstan is gambling crazed, and though the move reads like a negative blow at first, it could draw in some major dough. Kazakh officials hope to turn the cities into tourist draws, and major investments have been proposed by Chinese companies. Kapchagai could well turn into the Las Vegas of Kazakhstan (that's where the largest Chinese-proposed complex would be based) and Shchuchinsk its Atlantic City--not a bad deal, considering we feel far more comfortable at least trying to pronounce
Kapchagai.
Kapchagai is close to Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital. We've never really felt compelled to visit Macau, but should Kapchagai turn into something better, you might be surprised to learn that you'd be able to reach it fairly easily. Almaty airport is served by several international airlines, including Turkish, KLM, and Asiana and Lufthansa, in addition to those with more highly questionable safety. Start saving those tenge!
[Photo: NYT via
IHT]
Related Stories:·
Kazakhstan gambles on casinos [IHT]
by djk
9/28/2006 at 10:05 AM
Tags: gambling, Moscow, Russia (all tags)
If you're traveling through
Moscow soon and get the impression the city's getting poorer, it might all be part of an elaborate social campaign. Casinos are now allowed to open inside the city, and the Moscow City Council is afraid of the results when locals start to get addicted to gambling.
What to do? Of course, hire a bunch of actors to play beggars outside casinos. The idea is that these beggars should tell prospective gamblers a tale of woe: "I was a high-paid exec until I gambled, and look at me now" kind of stories. Ten points for originality, but let's wait and see how it works.
[Image via spinksy71/Flickr]
Related stories:
Actors Dress as Tramps [Ananova]
by amandak
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