Gambling $$$ Lost in 1 Vegas VIsit.?

Happy 4th Willie. I'm not going to answer your question directly though. Suffice it to say, too much. In my late 20's. I now go to LV with every intention of winning. Breaking even is acceptable. I hate losing, and am mostly disciplined enough to have stop losses. But I'm not gambling anywhere near 5 digits or more any longer. And probably never will again.

Here's why. Let's take a single person making a modest $100,000. Double it for a married couple. Not an unreasonable income. $10K represents 10% of pre-tax income. It's just not wise. I'll stipulate to some adjustments if the net worth might be above 3-4 MM, but probably not. It's a cliche, but 3-4 MM just isn't a lot of money to try to live off the proceeds from.

For me, it's just not wise. I'm a single person, and I've looked up what percentile my income and net worth are as an average, median, mean and every other measure published. 2% of my pre tax income represents a lot. And I really can't afford to do this. I get offers for my business all the time. So let's say I was offered $4MM. $4mm isn't $4mm after capital gains and some ordinary income tax. Maybe I'm left with $3MM. Maybe. I don't want to touch principle, and I'm not that old, so this needs to last. Safe investments. So maybe I get 3-4% Maybe without touching principle to live on. Pre tax. The math does not work for the lifestyle I currently have, and want.

I lose what I can "afford" to lose. And the more I think through it, I'm not convinced I can really "afford" to lose it. And this is coming from someone who knows where I stack up both in terms of net worth and income as compared to others in the USA. And not meaning to brag, but I'm way up there.

But that's me. Others have a different set of priorities and values. So if people answer this honestly, even if not directly, you're going to get a bunch of wildly varying answers, and none are right or wrong, except to the person answering.

 

Happy 4th!
Only for you @Willie.
Willing to lose... Mostly 60% of BR. Sometimes 100% of BR. Most $$$ lost in one visit? Use your imagination lol.. Im happy to say it has been many decades since my worst $$$ loss ever. And I won't ever do that again. I had the fever.

 

Rio Trip, February 2016. Lost 100% of my bankroll. Only trip I've ever done that on.

Every game I played was a dumpster fire.

 

I never take more than I can afford to lose, and I always say I'm prepared to lose it all if I'm having fun, but the rational part of me won't let me lose more than half of my bankroll.

 

To answer your question quite simply - too much. I lose every time I go to Vegas because I'm undisciplined when it comes to gambling. No regrets though...love my Vegas trips.

 

most in Vegas actually only 600 over 3 day trip! I only went to Vegas twice, and I won the other trip!

 

I dont gamble to win money. I mean, Id like to! I gamble for the thrill of it. In hopes I win. Plus, I find that gambling trips in general are a better value for vacations.

Flights to a gambling town are fairly cheap. My rooms, food, entertainment and even transportation is all typically comped. As long as I keep playing.

My bankroll is generally $1K per day. Plus or minus, just depends on where I am and how I am doing. Normally, I have winning days and losing days. Very rarely do I lose the full days bankroll each and every day. IE, I might drop $3K on a 4 day trip. But not all $4K I brought with me.

But my biggest kick in the nuts, came from my last stay at Mandalay Bay. Just look at this damage. On that trip, I lost everything. Never had a minute where I was up on the day, let alone on the trip. Brutal!

Thats on a 3 night stay. I expect to lose 10% of my money as I cycle it through. Variance and all, but that comes out to a 90% return. This trip, it was 75%. And I typically play very safe games, with historically better payouts.

 

I gamble for the challenge of beating the casino, can I leave with more than I started with. It's competition to me. Like the other day I hit a $5,000 progressive and at that point I was finished - it didn't make me want to play more. Because the game was over, I won that day so didn't see the point in playing more. I like the up and down of it all, a good comeback, a solid win.

I don't think I've ever lost more than $2K on a Vegas trip. I don't get too deep.

 

what progressive did you hit? pics? was it at mom Springfield?

 

Most I lost on a single trip was $6k. Funny…it was a 3-day work conference where I didn’t have much time to gamble. Got stupid aggressive chasing a $97k progressive on Mustang Money at $25/spin.

Also wanted to note….for those of us who’ve been around a while…..I miss @Willie. He added some valuable content on the site. Wonder what happened to him?

 

Ditto. After I lose about 60-70% of my daily BR I’ll shut it down for the day.

The most I ever lost on a two day trip was just north of $1,300. I was young and couldn’t even come close to afford that loss. Lesson learned. Haven’t come close to than type of self-inflected wound since 1982.

 

I once lost $7500 in 5 hours in AC. Half slots half baccarat. Have lost 6k in a day at Mohegan sun. Vegas 600 3 days lol

 

I believe he passed away.

 

Too sad!

 

I generally do not set a budget for a Vegas Trip (which is usually 6 nights). My stop loss on a days gambling is usually 2k, but if I am close to a point bonus at CET I'll play to reach it. Use to stop when I hit a KAces or RF for the day, but this year I've had 4 trips with multiple W-2s on the same day (3 RF one day at two casinos).
Basically I'm there for the challenge of beating the casino AND TO MAKE MONEY.
This has been one hell of a year for W-2s. Beat the hell out of my record year for RF's (2010 when I had 12), at 17 now and still looking for more (had a total of 4 in 2021).
I attribute it to being my 77th year!