We started our casino record adventure at 5pm on October 4, 2023, at Golden Gate. That was eight hours after our day started. There were several preparations required before our journey.
We spent the day in downtown Las Vegas
We left our house around 10 a.m. That was about an hour later than we hoped. We checked into the Plaza and tried to get our snacks and drinks to the Circa driver who would pick us up the next day but our timing didn’t work. Instead, we had breakfast at Binion’s. Its cafe is always great.
After breakfast, we met the Circa driver in Garage Mahal. We talked about the next day’s plan. The goal was to meet at either Mandalay Bay or Silverton around 5:15 a.m. the next morning. We got so far ahead that he picked us up at South Point.
We got back to our room at the Plaza around 12:30 p.m. Then, we stayed in bed and set the alarm for 4 p.m. I don’t think either of us napped. However, the quiet time was refreshing.
It was time to break the casino visitation record
We left the room around 4:30 p.m. and headed to Golden Gate. We did not know what to expect. So to prepare for our slot play, we got $80 in singles from the cage.
We met Circa and Golden Gate employees in the west side of the casino. They wanted to record our first play. The machines we chose had players on it. We did not want to disturb them.
There are new keno machines near the craps tables. There were no players in the area. So, we decided to play there. Two local news stations asked us for interviews. We were happy to give them, but anxious in the chaos.
Photo credit: Circa
Let the adventure begin
Keno was our game of choice. It requires no thought. We just picked the numbers related to our anniversary and the one that matched the casino on the route.
We had no luck at Golden Gate. Plaza was the next stop. In a little over an hour, we had downtown covered. I hit four spots at Binion’s and Fremont.
We were picked up at El Cortez by our first driver. We had an uneventful ride around North Las Vegas until I hit a four-spot at Aliante. I had three and Kristina had none at that point.
I never hit another big payout after Aliante, stop 17 of 93. Kristina’s fortunes started to reverse an hour later.
After stops in the west and northwest parts of the Las Vegas Valley, we moved to the area just west of the Las Vegas Strip. We could not play keno at Rio because all the Game Kings were still off.
Wildfire Valley View was stop number 28. Kristina hit her first four-spot here. We only had one more stop before the Strip. That was Palace Station.
Time to hit the Las Vegas Strip
Our Strip adventure started at The Strat. It was stop 30. I recorded a video there related to our 10th and 20th anniversaries. Sahara was stop 31, which put us one-third of the way to our goal. At stop 33, we hit unexpected traffic at Resorts World. That required us to walk and let our driver catch up with us.
The next stop was Wynn. This is where our first driver dropped us off for the last time. We walked to the next 25 casinos, ending at Mandalay Bay. We walked about eight miles during this stretch.
The weather was perfect. It was fun to see the Las Vegas Strip so peaceful. The F1 construction was only a minor nuisance. It only slowed us down a few minutes. We were forced to backtrack at Caesars Palace because of a sidewalk closure involving moving F1 lighting.
We did not encounter any other problems along the way. There were few people outside. The casinos were mostly empty.
Two hours ahead of schedule after the Strip
We were nearly two hours ahead of schedule when we got to Mandalay Bay. This is where Circa was to pick us up. However, the driver was not in at that early hour.
We hired an Uber driver. He was more tired than we were. He said he’d been on the road for 11 hours. It was obvious he was a danger to us and others. He took us to Alamo and Silverton before dropping us off at South Point, where we had breakfast as we waited for Circa’s driver.
The Circa driver arrived around 5:15 p.m. This is a video of our ride for the remainder of our anniversary casino run.
We headed to Primm next. There wasn’t much happening down there. Primm Valley Resort was so dark and uninviting that we weren’t sure it was open.
After Primm, we headed to Henderson. We broke the record at Wildfire Lake Mead, a Station Casinos property. It took until stop 80 for another win to happen. That was at Barley’s, another Station property. Kristina won $134 on a $0.50 bet. These pictures are from Wildfire Lake Mead, where we broke the record.
Photo credit: Wildfire Lake Mead
We returned to Boulder Highway, then to the east side of the Strip. Tuscany, stop 88, became Kristina’s last hit. She bet $0.10 and won $80 on a five-spot. At this point, we had to play five keno numbers because we were over 80 casinos, which is the highest spot on the board.
We only had Silver Sevens, Westgate, Eureka, and Circa left. We were an hour ahead of schedule. After stop 92 at Eureka, we went back to our Plaza hotel room to freshen up and return our belongings.
Circa was the last stop on our casino record-breaking tour. This video covers that event.
Thank you to all our supporters along the way
Circa Resort & Casino helped make this happen. The company worked with us on our plan, provided two celebrations, and rides to 31 casinos. We always enjoy playing at its three downtown Las Vegas casinos. We can’t thank them enough for helping make our anniversary unforgettable.
Marker Trax is also a long-time supporter of Vegas Advantage. We would not be here without them. Thank you for everything Marker Trax has done for us.
Station Casinos gave us $280 in free play. It was $10 for each of us at its 14 casinos on our route. Two of Kristina’s top three hits, including a $134 win at Wildfire Valley View, came from this generosity. Red Rock is one of our favorite casinos. Thank you to everyone at Station Casinos.
We go way back almost 20 years with Plaza Hotel & Casino. The same company owned Las Vegas Club. In 2019, Plaza gave me the video poker machine I used to play there and at Las Vegas Club. They made Kristina’s 40th birthday memorable, including putting their best wishes to her on the sign above Oscar’s. We stayed at Plaza for two nights with an early check-in on a comp. Thank you to everyone at Plaza who made us feel like VIPs over the years.
