If you gave Vegas/gambling up…

… what hobbies/interests would you spend the time (and depending on how you roll, money) pursuing?

I would likely spend time on retro video games, pinball, and the various things I did to save or make a spare buck (couponing/deal hunting/buy-resell)

But I hope Vegas (and maybe other gambling-centric places) will be happening for a good long time… I like the value proposition for the time being

 

I shudder to think......

Golf and skiing. The only problem would be it's not as fun or easy to take off on a trip like that without your buddies. I've had good luck with who I have gotten paired up with on the course, but I would want the fellas with me if I had a choice. They don't travel as much because they have family obligations these days. I could probably ski a little bit more, but it's one of those sports you are a fool if you take on a big trip by yourself if you like to really get after it. The risk of injury and figuring out how to get home by myself kinda keeps me hesitant on big solo trips like that.... I would probably be fine and fill my schedule pretty easily, but I need my solo Vegas trips.

 

I've actually been contemplating a similar sort of thing. My current life priorities don't exactly allow for "hobbies" in the traditional sense... though I realize that I'll likely eventually get to the point where that might change, and taking my time reading the newspaper in the morning might start to get old as a way to spend time

While I don't necessarily intend to give up Vegas/gambling, I certainly plan on diversifying a little. No firm plans as of yet, but three general ideas for things I've "more than superficially" considered taking up...

1. Golf - which, conveniently, kind of goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the casino travel I already do anyway.

2. Computer programming - I frequently come across mildly irritating situations in which I realize "this would be SO easy to automate"... but I don't have the know-how or the free time to actually pursue it. In the absence of distractions like work and Vegas, I'd definitely want to make a hobby out of over-engineering solutions for relatively trivial problems.

3. Sewing - although my academic/professional background is in fashion, my sewing knowledge/abilities are pretty limited as I had more of a focus on the "business" aspects of the industry. While I wouldn't want to do this for work, I've always liked the idea of sewing things myself just so I can have garments and such exactly the way I want them.

 

I would simply travel other places instead

 

I gave up gambling a long time ago. There are other things in life, believe it or not.

 

Ummm yeah, that’s pretty much the purpose of this thread

 

I would insert more places to travel. While I still love Vegas and will still make trips there, I want to explore other places I read about.

 

We have one more trip this year. We are planning two trips next year in April-May & September-October. With all the cutbacks due to “lack of staffing” or no longer supporting things not turning a profit and general time dedicated to leaving home, going through TSA, sitting in a tube for just under 3 hours and arriving at the hotel approximately 7 hours after leaving home is just not worth what it once was.
We are usually very narrowly focused and the closure of the 2nd street grill steakhouse at Fremont hotel, the unfathomable days and hours open for the 777 Brewery, and the changes at the boar’s head bar (as well as about 20 months MSS was shuttered) are just too much.
We go to vegas to eat better than we eat at home. We don’t do chains for food. We still greatly enjoy the employees we interact with each trip. But continually hearing to “just be patient” as things are coming back has grown tiresome.
So we will travel to the states and cities we enjoy visiting and discovering new adventures and hidden spots. Vegas has been fun and exciting as well as a good value for over 30 years. But it is / has changed and ain’t going back. And we’re thirty years older also which is no ones fault.
So instead of being immersed we’ll just dabble and maybe enjoy it more.

 

We enjoy Vegas, certainly have been an inordinate number of times, but it has never been the be-all, do-all for us, and as far as gambling goes, that's solely a Nevada thing; we just never think, "Hey, let's go to the local for a few hours."

We look at this question as we try to look at most things in life: leisure/vacation/recreational/fun is not a zero-sum game. We have never for one second thought about a trip to New Zealand or Whistler or Boston or wherever as depriving us of yet another trip to a Vegas casino-resort. We don't tally up the cost of rooms and food and activates and then rue that we could've offset that by sitting inside in a casino grinding away for hours -- because bueno or not, a suite at Aria isn't surf-side in Kauai, and we like Aria. Some people REALLY dig gambling, and that's cool. I'd rather "deprive" myself of the nth trip to Casino Amazingo for a hike to Dewey Point and an overnight at Ahwahnee.

Edit: We could walk away from gambling and never look back. We'd still go to Vegas occasionally.

 

Probably investing more, but I suppose that could also be classified as a sort of gambling.

Vegas, for me at least, is still a vacation. I have a ton of locals around me, but I don't go to them because I don't feel the need to gamble (plus I normally lose there so it's not particularly fun).

I would surmise traveling would increase, to other places. Speaking anecdotally, I do enjoy Vegas a bit less now with all the incessant cut backs. My biggest hobby is going to baseball games and I'm starting to limit my trips only to months outside of baseball season (April - Oct), however, with the impending lockout, that may revert, at least this year.

 

Same here. I don't think of Las Vegas as a gambling destination. It's vacation for me.

 

Yeah, I mean at this point there's gambling in most areas throughout the US. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I want to go play some blackjack at a local, but when things go sideways, it's nice to go do something else and at standalone casinos, there's less of those options.

 

Gambling isn't my main reason for going to Las Vegas, it's the opportunity to live decadently and eat in interesting restaurants. I could fill that void with trips to other cities and countries, cruise ships, etc.

 

Well, gambling is a part of travel for me. And I wouldn't stop that just because I gave up gambling. For me, I like to travel to places that fit into one of three general categories: places with entertainment I can't get at home (e.g. casinos, theme parks, etc), places where I can do something adventuresome (e.g. national parks), or places where I can completely relax and do nothing (e.g., beaches, spas). I can't physically do the adventurous stuff any more, so i would probably just replace the dozen or so gambling trips with trips in one of those other areas or types of entertainment

 

Youtuber on life after Vegas, gambling

 

Probably fishing lodge trips.

The ones where you stay at this far off lodge in Alaska somewhere and everyday you go on a boat and fish for salmon, halibut, crabs, go clamming on the shores.

Then at the end of the day the lodge owners would cook some of the catch for dinner. The next day rinse and repeat.

Your catch during the trip is gutted, cleaned, shrink wrapped, packaged and frozen to take home to family and friends.

That and trips to Japan, Okinawa, and Korea. Not to visit the metro areas but to visit the countryside and participate in centuries old traditions like harvesting festivals and seasonal festivals welcoming the different seasons. Visit country markets and eat the street food. Plant rice with the local farmers and harvest monster daikon radish from the fields.

Go on cruises but not to the usual European or Mediterranean areas. Go on Alaskan cruises to view the scenery and wild eagles and bears and moose and shit like Glacier viewing and watching the tons of glacier ice tumble into the ocean.

Or maybe I'll just stay home and do gardening.

 

The way I read your question, it's an either/or on whether you give up Vegas or gambling altogether. If for whatever reason I could no longer escape to Vegas for 2 or 3 trips a year, I'd probably turn to cruising more. I can still gamble there, but it's not the focus and as a video poker player primarily it's not the same so I wouldn't gamble as much.

Although I've yet to do European or Med cruises (both are on the bucket list), I cannot recommend highly enough doing an Alaskan cruise! I was lucky enough to do a 4 day land tour and a 7 day cruise in Sept. or 2019 before the world changed and it was unforgettable. Pics just don't do the scope and scale of the scenery justice!

 

I gamble only in Vegas. And I'm in Vegas maybe 8 nights/days per year. So, in essence I do give up Vegas/gambling on the other 357 days in the year. I might increase the Vegas/gambling time as I get older. We'll see if the budget holds up.

Besides work, which I do fully remote (100% WFH), I like to play video games, watch TV, and of course read the forums. There isn't anything really expensive that I do other than Vegas.

 

If I quit gaming/Vegas my hobby will most likely be pushing daisies!

 

I’d probably take more college level classes, but not for credits. Harvard extension school allows you (or at least they used to) to take their night classes for personal enrichment. For a fee of course.

Also more traveling of course. More fitness too. And probably more cats lol