When it comes to shopping, Vegas has got it all. The great places to shop are as numerous as porn flyers on the sidewalk of the Strip. If your significant other isn’t into gambling you might want to keep a close eye on her, because the malls can bleed your bankroll faster than the tables.

Every big hotel has a shopping mall of some type. The Strip can assuage all your shopping desires if you’re willing to pay top price. The Fashion Show Mall gets over 10 million customers per year and includes Saks, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Neiman Marcus, just to name a few. The Grand Canal Shops give the shopper a “Streetmosphere” as patrons walk on sidewalks that have live performers and numerous shops around every corner. The Paris-themed Le Boulevard at Paris Las Vegas is close to the casino and is one fine boutique after another. Numerous restaurants make this one of the best places to have lunch in the entire city.

Off the Strip can be a different story. There are some shops in town that won’t make you go broke in just one day. The Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas are located 40 miles south in Primm, Nevada, and provide a relaxing atmosphere with over 100 shops to choose from. The food court is top-notch and there is a Gamezone Arcade to keep the kids busy while you shop. If you’re downtown, the Las Vegas Premium Outlets has over 435,000 square feet of shopping that offers savings between 25 and 65 percent. Stores range from higher end like Polo Ralph Lauren to mid-priced stores like Levi’s and Eddy Bauer. Canopies are plentiful, but remember to drink water in the desert heat.

A town like Vegas also produces specialty shops that one would have difficulty finding in most cities. Ron Lee’s World of Clowns, the Manilow Store, the Psychic Eye Book Shop, and Serge’s Showgirl Wigs are just a few of the outrageous selection of shops for the offbeat tastes. If you search for it you can find just about anything in this town; just remember to leave enough room in your suitcase for all the stuff you’re taking back home.

Read this article on “Best of Vegas: Best of Shopping” for more great shopping ideas!

It seems as though every second movie is being made in Vegas right now. Gambling has never been so popular with celebrities and tourists alike and the poker boom has turned everyday Joe into a Vegas fan overnight. The rich and famous are flocking to the Palms in droves to party and to be where the action is. This makes for a desirable location for actors and producers to shoot films.

The city has always been a cool setting for a flick because the city of Las Vegas is as hip as you can find. Any story plot with temptation, greed, lust, ambition, or just about any other desire you can think of can be well situated in Sin City. The town has so much history and attitude surrounding it that it’s become the world’s ultimate adult playground.

Movies and Vegas have been a good mix for longer than most people think. There have been over a hundred pictures made in Las Vegas and surrounding areas since as far back as 1936. In 1997 there were 21 motion pictures filmed in Vegas, including blockbusters like “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” and “Con Air”.

Lake Meade and the desert offer many different settings for the moviemaker. It’s central location to these and other attractions like the Grand Canyon and Sierra Nevada mountains offer up multiple settings within a close proximity. The short distance between Las Vegas and Southern California makes for easy trips home for most celebrities while they’re making a film there. The weather is another thing that producers can depend on, being sunny and clear most days of the year.

Las Vegas is a city that’s run by constantly trying to get bigger and better. It will continue to be the premier destination for opulence and desire, and therefore moviemakers will continue to use this setting to sell movie tickets. We all want to be where the action is; it looks like Hollywood wants to be there too.

The offshore gambling scene has been evolving over the last 150 years or so. It was once a very popular gambling scene. The three-mile limit that the ship has to be offshore was created because that was the furthest a cannon could fire a cannonball at the time. It remained popular until the expansion of casinos across North America. When it was just Atlantic City and Vegas, the gambling options were slim. Cruises were a good local option for coastal-town gamblers looking for some action.

Because casinos have been established in most cities now, the cruise ships have had to sell the cruise first and the gambling second. This makes for some advantages to the gambler that you may not find in a regular casino. You’ll find that staff and dealers will be more understanding towards the novice gamer because service is number one aboard a luxury liner. Most boats have well-equipped casinos that are growing more elaborate all the time, but the casino competes with other onboard activities.

Ship lines will vary in style from luxury to mainstream, depending on your budget. The cream of the crop is the Crystal Cruises ships. There are a few to choose from including a floating version of Caesars called “Caesars at Sea”. This ship has over 80 slot machines, five blackjack tables, baccarat, a roulette wheel, and a craps table. And the Crystal Harmony has over 100 machines aboard her!

All the Carnival Ships have casinos and a cruise that won’t break your bankroll like the Crystal Line might do. Other budget boats include Holland America and the Princess Line. The best way to choose which ship to go on is to look at the overall activities each provides. That’s the idea of the cruise ship – the gaming will be only part of your experience and everything else is all-inclusive, so if your bankroll is eviscerated you can still do lots of stuff.

Try and save a few bucks for the duty-free shopping, and there’s no winnings like tax-free winnings. Bon Voyage.

You hear of all kinds of systems that you can use to beat a casino out of their money. A lot of these claims are myths, but some are true. Some games can be beaten, and the easiest game to beat is blackjack. It’s no simple task to beat a seven deck shoe blackjack game, but many have and many continue to do it.

Blackjack is a game that has the house at a small edge, usually around 0.4 of a percent. If a player is able to pick up an edge their results can be drastically different. If a player knew when the deck had more big cards left in it, as opposed to small cards, it would be an advantage for that player to place larger bets when the deck is in this condition. In turn the player can lower his or her bets when the deck has more small cards left than big ones.

If you’ve seen the movie “Rainman” you’ve heard of counting cards. Slick grifters have been counting cards since these games were introduced to this part of the world, and casinos still deal with multiple card counters on a weekly basis. To combat this, casinos have staff hired to locate card counters and other players that are trying to work an advantage. Most pit bosses are trained and have a good amount of experience at recognizing counters and their schemes.

Card counting is not illegal, but if you’re discovered doing it you will be asked to stop playing blackjack and will most likely be asked to leave the casino. Because of this, counters develop intricate methods to camouflage their counting, like using other people to make their bets once they know that the deck is ripe for the bigger bets.

Lots of people make their living beating blackjack. It takes a mathematical mind and proper instruction to get good enough at counting to where you can go into a casino and not get detected, and don’t forget the bankroll required to get started.