Cosmopolitian on a budget

Normally stay at mlife properties (mid tier) however, I found an offer from Cosmo that is tough to turn down. However this will be a trip on a pretty tight budget with not a ton on gambling unfortunately. My question is with a smaller budget than normal will the Cosmo be tough with food, drink, and low stakes gambling? I'm talking ~$200 a day for gambling and I'm not trying to spend outrageous amounts on food either.

Question is - would it be better to stay at a property like Harrah's, Monte Carlo, Luxor, NYNY just for the ease of fitting everything into the budget on location?

 

If it's just you, it's weekdays and you're alone, yeah that'll be fine if you're not planning to gamble much. I've seen $15 table limits on weekdays before.

 

Depends on your game & how many hours you spend gambling.
Our max budget is $250/day/pp & we were at about $150 each for our trip this summer which started with 2 nights at Cosmo and we had a blast! We played about half of that on VP at Cosmo (hit a $200 hand early so that stretched the budget) & wandered around for the rest.

 

Nah, if you got good deal at Cosmo that you should stay there for sure...like it mentioned above I seen it where it's 15 BJ table even food... I seen plenty of restaurant with good food with reasonable prices... I remember inside Miracle Mile mall Tavern had breakfast special for like $1.99 and $2.99 and they were fine (eggs, bacon and hashbrown etc.)
Good luck!!!

 

You can gamble at Cosmo, and eat elsewhere.

As to the Cosmo offer, it might not be available later anyways. I tend to say take the offers you have. If you are planning to return to Vegas soon, use your CET offer now, and Cosmo later. Just remember, do not use your players card at any casino you are not going to play at. They will track your play (or lack of) and average that into your theo.

 

Ditto

I second nostress. Just because you stay there doesn't mean you have to eat there!

Miracle mile (literally RIGHT across the walkway, super easy) also had a place right by Pampas offering anything on their lunch menu for 4.99, and it was a decent looking sit-down place with good menu items.

And If you're new to Cosmo, a free buffet for first 500 coin in on slots, two for first 1000. Just make sure to go by the identity players desk to get a card. Secret Pizza and Eggslut are also affordable options in cosmo.

I'd book now like nostress said....you can always cancel if you change your mind, but at least you have it locked in.....enjoy!

 

you can always uber to downtown and gamble there, or walk to another property where the limits are less.. The food is not too bad if you do happy hours and eat light.

 

What's your daily loss limit on a normal trip? $200 isn't going to get you much action in terms of theo.

Here's the thing. You didn't say what kind of offer you have from Cosmo. If it's a teaser offer, and you got it by doing a small amount of play, and now you take them up on the offer and low play, you're going to get stuck in a low bracket for future offers (possibly worse than your teaser). Maybe that's OK. But if you don't stay/play there on your low budget trip, I would expect you'd continue to get the same teaser offer for a year or so from the first one you got. But like nostress and Multi said, no harm in locking it down and deciding later. And if you only go once or twice a year, it might be better to take advantage while you can.

If you decide to pass on Cosmo, it might be better to do the low budget trip at one of the MGM properties where there's a chance it will get smoothed out by previous play. I had a one-night comp booking at MGM Grand on my last trip and I basically no-played it, but my subsequent offers didn't change (which surprised me).

If I was doing a real low budget trip, I wouldn't even stay at one of the strip places where I have a history, I'd go off somewhere I'd never stayed/played before, set up a new account, and at least end up getting a teaser offer out of it to put in my pocket.

 

I've been on the Cosmo two free night mailer for about three years, used it once. Solo on a budget you can still play quarter bar top VP with better pay tables than most of the strip. Fifteen dollar minimum at the craps table was a budget breaker for me, had to hike down to Casino Royale. All of their sit down restaurants are pricey, but there's always secret pizza. As was mentioned, Planet Ho and the Miracle Mile have lots of casual dining options. Earl of Sandwich is great for any meal.

 

Shawnj1: Its nice to see someone else with a variable budget that we use. We do $210.00 a day and very rarely exceed it. I get an inferiority complex reading all the trip reports, knowing I could never have the courage have the experiences most of my fellow VMB'ers have Good luck in whatever decision you make.... it will be the right one whichever it is!!

Jeff
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You have to take some of the people's daily average with a grain of salt on what they spend gambling

 

I am sure that some of the reports are a little exaggerated but I can guarantee you that the majority are accurate.

I also know that on a $200/day budget your offers from the Cosmo may dry up unless you're luck is good and you run it through the machines many times, but I don't think you will go hungry and will have a good time at a very nice hotel.

 

Was at Cosmo this past weekend and had many 15$ BJ tables

Unfortunately craps was generally 25$ and higher at night - did have some 15$ during the day

 

Nah, if you're not worried about racking up Identity points by all means stay at the Cosmo, it's a gorgeous place.

As others have said there are tons of (relatively) inexpensive places to eat across the street (Miracle Mile etc) and if you'd rather continue gaining Mlife credits with your gambling budget you're obviously surrounded on that side of the strip by MGM props.

The Cosmo continues to upgrade the property and even though it's 5 years old it still shines like a new penny...if you have the opportunity I wouldn't hesitate to book it.

 

anybody have experience with the Terrace angle rooms?

 

The room is slightly bigger and the patio is 200 sq ft instead of 110 sq ft.

 

Cosmo . I loved the terrace. If it is comped, you will love it. Let me know. Do not feel guilty playing and eating somewhere with a better money exchange.