Casino Reviews

As of April, 2014 Treasure Island on the strip is being updated with a new entertainment area. It is replacing the pirate ship that used to provide entertainment every hour on the hour.

There’s a lot of construction around the hotel. It is constantly being updated. They want to provide better service and cater to Las Vegas tourists staying at the hotel. There’s also a local Starbucks right at the corner at the entrance on the strip to the treasure Island hotel. The tram continues to run between the hotel treasure Island, and the Mirage Hotel which is part of the MGM group. Reader should note that Treasure Island is no longer a part of the MGM group of hotels.

Treasure Island – Dark Casino

Personally, we find the casino very dark with dark brown carpets and dark furnishings. I’m sure it appeals to many people however we like a brighter atmosphere than one that is dark and drab. The Wynn casino and hotel is diagonally across the street from Treasure Island. It is an example of an upscale bright and modern casino and hotel that we like to visit. On the other corner is the Venetian Hotel. And also across the street is the fashion show mall. These are all connected by above street walkways that provide safe passage across the major intersection in front of these casinos.

This area is one of the best to stay in. Regardless of which hotel you stay at your within short walking distance of at least 10 major casinos and of course the fashion show mall. There’s lots to do on the strip including shopping, bars and of course casinos.

The Wynn hotel and casino is the nicest hotel on the strip in our opinion and we just attended one of the Wynn Slot Tournaments that was recently held there. The Wynn hotel and the casino is beautiful, clean, not smoky and elegant all together. They seem to always have someone going around cleaning, straightening chairs, dusting and maintaining the Wynn hotel at a high standard. We loved getting an invitation to play in a free slot tournament with our rooms comp’d and an invitation to a slot tournament party at the end. It cannot get any better than that all because we always use a slot card when we are play the slots at the Wynn Casino.

Wynn Slot tournaments – Invitation

The invitation included free entry to the tournament, three nights free in one of their deluxe hotel rooms, and an invitation including our guests to the party after the tournament when the awards are handed out. There were 238 people participating with the top prize being $35,000 in free play along with 19 other smaller wins. Just the three nights along are worth about $600 in value alone. This is a great deal and of course you are going to gamble outside of the tournament which you may win or lose. As long as you are careful, this can be a very good deal to participate in this tournament.

Exciting Contests

The tournament was exciting and professional. Our names were on the screens at the top of the slot machine. These are special machines that are set up specifically for the tournament. The slot tournament lasted a total of ten minutes and I think there was about 35 people in our round. I came in 5th overall in our round. Ufortunately that was not high enough to win any of the prizes.

Basically you press the play button all of the time. You must watch the screen for balloons that pop up on the screen from time to time. With your other hand you must touch the balloons on the screen to explode then and earn additional points. My score was around 385,000, while the winner had over 435,000 points. This was all very exciting. I would encourage everyone to take part in a tournament anytime you get the chance.

The Venetian Casino and hotel as well as the shops at the Venetian are located along the strip across from Treasure Island. It is right in the middle of the strip as far as the strip hotels are concerned. It is also attached to the Sands Convention center. If you are attending a convention in this area, this is a great place to stay.  That is to say it is so central and close to the convention center.

We have included a couple of pictures of one of the areas inside the hotel with the current decor. As with most of the major hotels, they go to great pains to decorate and provide displays. Many people will spend time viewing and taking pictures of these decorations. They change it on a regular basis. So even if you are not staying at the hotel it is definitely worth a trip to the Venetian casino just to view the decorations and also to walk through the shops of the Venetian casino and hotel.

Shops at Venetian

There is also a waterfall in this same area which on a practical basis is used to add humidity to the air, while at the same time provides a beautiful view for visitors who are strolling through. The shops at the Venetian are on the second floor. they have a blue sky on the ceiling to give you the impression you are strolling outside.

Visitors can also take a gondola around the shopping area. This is designed to emulate the shopping and the gondola rides that are available in Venice. The boats can be rented by the hour. You can just relax and take a tour of the shopping area at the Venetian hotel. We actually have never taken one of these rides. However many people do all of the time and seem to enjoy their time. The operators of the gondolas also sing to them as well as answer their questions about the hotel, the casino and the shops of course.

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We are staying again at the Aquarius hotel in Laughlin Nevada. They offered us three nights free based on our casino play. Aquarius Free Rooms! This was tracked on our slot card from the previous several trips. This is like winning a small jackpot. When you receive offers like this based on your play, take advantage of them. Because they can save you a significant amount of money. In our case room rates were
$50 a night, so a small jackpot of $150 is nothing to be ignored.

Aquarius Free Rooms – Multiple Offers

We seem to receive multiple offers every couple of months. Unfortunately we cannot take advantage of all of them based on the distance that we would have to travel to stay at the Aquarius hotel. However if you were someone who lives within three or 400 miles of Laughlin Nevada, this can make a really nice weekend trip or week day trip when you take advantage of these free offers. Since we travel a lot, we make sure that the offers are sent to us by email. You can also receive the offers by snail mail however they may not always get to you one time. In addition to receiving the Aquarius free rooms, you could also use the cash on your Slot card to pay for meals and also other incidentals that you may charge. Talk to your Slot host for more details.

Aquarius Free Rooms- Best Crab Legs

One of the things that we really enjoy at the Aquarius hotel in Laughlin Nevada is the buffet on Friday night. This is seafood night and they have a great deal of seafood available depending on what you like to eat. We happen to like the Alaskan King crab legs. They are hot ( some place serve them cold ), they are pre-cut so they are easy to break open and they taste absolutely great. We try to make sure that we are staying at the Aquarius on a Friday night so that we can dine on crab legs.

Even better, quite often we end up getting comp’d for the meal as well as the room. What a deal!

Backing on to the Colorado River, the Aquarius hotel is probably the nicest hotel in Laughlin Nevada. They have two towers with one tower dedicated to families, while the other tower is reserved for adults. Both towers have elevators that are off of the main casino. Both also have access to the pool and the tennis courts. We recently stayed at the Aquarius Casino hotel and were fully comp’d for the room charges. These Aquarius Casino Comp’s included our meals while we were staying at the hotel based on our play.

Aquarius Casino Comp’s – Rooms & Free play

One of the major advantages of using a slot card at every casino is the comp’s for food, meals, beverages. Also rooms as well as shows. In addition to the above sometimes the casino will also award free play to the slot cardholder. Which is almost the same as providing real money to the player. You cannot withdraw the cash. However, you can play it on a slot machine. Once all of the free play is fully utilized, withdraw whatever winnings that you may have won. Sometimes patrons will win huge jackpots with their free play. However most of the time you will win the equivalent in real cash. Whatever the value if you play smart you can win a great deal of money from free play.

Aquarius Casino Comp’s – Depends on your level

The number of complimentary things that you receive will really depend on the amount of play at the slot machine. This rating depends on the denomination of the bets you are making, the speed of your bets, in other words, how many times per hour that you press the button to bet and how long you play. Someone who is playing a dollar slot machine will be comp’d much more than someone who is playing a nickel machine for example.

Whatever you are betting and regardless of how long, always use a slot card to rack up slot machine benefits. they do add up over time and everyone enjoys a free room or free meal from time to time.