ONE REASON to visit Las Vegas: cheap tables. At dozens of casinos on and off the Strip you can find blackjack with $5 minimums. At Casino Royale (which looks nothing like the casino in the movie), there are even dollar tables. More astounding, there are a few casinos like the Rio that offer $5 craps–something inconceivable in Atlantic City. According to a Rio pit boss, “We try to offer all things to all people, but it all depends on occupancy. If the place is packed, you won’t see any of those tables.”

This must have been the case last weekend when I was in Vegas for a bachelor party. Admittedly, we were staying at the high end Venetian–Sheldon Adelson’s $1.5 billion tribute to Venice, complete with indoor canals and gondolas, a replica of St. Mark’s square, painted ceilings, and the Campanile Tower–built right on top of the Sands. (I thought this a terrible insult to Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack, but, as a cabdriver pointed out, “Sure it was still a happening place in the late ’70s and early ’80s, but when they started selling hot dogs on the casino floor, it just had to go.”) Nevertheless, cruising around with my gambling cohorts, it was a bit unnerving not to find an affordable blackjack table. But as my friend Rushford observed, “You end up betting $10 at the $5 tables anyway.” Good point, I guess.