It was a few years ago when I wrote a column about the rising prices in Las Vegas. I pointed out that the biggest difference between the mob owning Vegas and now the corporations owning Vegas was that, when "the boys" ran this town, if you were a player they knew it and comped you accordingly. Back than if you were a $100 player you were assured life would be like nothing you could experience anywhere else. You asked for it, you got it. In fact, most shift bosses' jobs often hinged on how much the bigger players had to ask for rather, than have it waiting at his beck and call. The restaurants weren't there to make money; at the end of a shift when the money was counted up in the cash register along with the comp slips, there would be a couple of hundred in cash and stacks and stacks of comp slips. The bars were the same way: the alcohol wasn't meant to show a profit. I knew the head bartender at the back bar of the Horseshoe and at the end of the shift he would have a single wrap of bills and five or six stacks of comp slips. The only money on the cocktail waitress's tray was tips and comp slips. If you were sitting at the bar in front of a poker machine, the first drinks were free. But the money that was dropped from the tables and the slot machines could run the whole casino even if all the rooms were free.

But then in came the bean counters to run "the boys" out of town. Sure they had to leave, but they made some great deals selling their casinos to the suits. But when the suits went over the books and saw all the receipts and comps, they were outraged. The thousands of dollars that weren't being made in the restaurants and the bars demanded immediate reaction and naturally the reaction was always their first reaction; they raised all the prices. The restaurants and bars were demanded to show a profit. Sure, the first thing they knew they could change and not hear too much backlash about was to raise the price of the buffets. Just a couple of dollars at first, but then when the Station casino threw in the first live-cooking station buffets where they honestly had a reason to raise the price was a huge hit, thanks to the grills and woks going - so your steak or Chinese food was as fresh and hot as possible - was worth the rise in price.

Then came the 90's and the huge hotels that couldn't spend a billion dollars on a hotel/casino and charge $6.95 for a dinner buffet. The Mirage was right next door to the most expensive hotel in town and if they were going to compete with Caesar's Palace, they were going to have to look classy, act classy, and charge accordingly. Then the room prices came into play. The couple of huge casinos were in great demand and they spent the money on the hotels, they all tried to outdo each other in room décor so they had to make the room prices fit the casino. You couldn't possibly expect a room at the Bellagio for under $100, it would almost be an embarrassment. You could, however, get a room comped but imagine what kind of play you'd need to get a free $300 room when you could have walked a mile or so down the street and get a free room with $50 bets in a few hours' play. I don't know about you, but all I want is a nice bed, soft pillows and a remote control for the TV and it would be nice if they threw in a coffee maker in the bathroom. By the time I hit the room I just want bed and remote with a sleep button; I couldn't care less if there's a big couch in the living room.

So the prices went up, and they kept on going up and up, so did the food prices, each hotel trying to outdo the other with their gourmet restaurants, their high-priced retail stores as well as expensive shows, the prices continually rising. At one time a big name act would come to town and make great money, but the casino would give away most of the seats to the better players to be sure they would return and the remaining seats weren't nearly enough to pay a Sammy Davis or Sinatra, but the money hitting the tables were awesome because the players still had money to spend. The bars at the nicer hotels don't have poker machines or at least not too many of them, so you certainly couldn't expect a Martini at the Venetian to cost you $3 or $4. When you order a round of drinks for two and hand the bartender a $20, you might as well tell him to keep the $2 change.

What does this all have to do with gambling? Well, people still come to town with a couple hundred bucks for the three days you're going to be here. But now your $25 room somewhere is $75, the $7 dinner buffet you used to look forward to is now around $12 to $15 and that's on the weekday. It touches every corner of the casino/hotels. All the shops are usually quiet little over-priced items that no one would wear anywhere but in Vegas, so as each dollar is sucked into every corner of town there's only so much left for the real gambling itself. People would buy rolls of dollars and take a good shot at any casino, maybe four or five rolls of quarters at a time would last you all night until you were buzzed and ready for the $2 dinner around 2-3am. Now that all the tables are still $5 and higher, but people still buy in the same $50, that gives them maybe a half hour or so before that money's gone. Sure they would pull out another $50, now they pretty much quit playing in frustration since they still have the whole night left and only a couple $20s left and what about dinner and drinks?

I sent some friends to a club at the Mandalay Bay a while back and it turned out that it cost them $30 just to walk in the door, drinks were around $15 a round of two and with some appetizers, it left him stuck almost $300 for a few martinis and pot stickers. There was a new "adult entertainment" show at a major casino; tickets to that were $115 each and the show was over around 11. There were hours to go and plenty of upscale bars to check out at the Aladdin, the Bellagio, etc. Imagine how much drinks cost by 3am. And that's the first day in town. Dinner at the Paris buffet the second night cost $24 with tax. Some of it was good, but with four of them a $100 bill was dropped for a Vegas buffet and even a round of drinks were charged to the table! Now when they decide to sit down at the tables it's either win right away or quit. The only place the casino gets "free" money is on the tables and the machines and that's becoming scarcer. Now, somehow, the casinos are relying on the high-end retail shopping and high-end restaurants to help support the casino that's having problems finding good-sized players. This is just the opposite of what "the boys" did forty years go. Yes, there were expensive jewelry stores and clothing stores at the casinos, but with the comps given away the players had cash to play and often a pair of earrings or a dress or a suit was thrown in since anything in the casino was part of the casino and if the boss wanted to give away a big loser's wife a pair of nice diamond earrings, he would just ask for the earrings and they were hers. Now the stores are privately-owned, paying rent to the casinos. If the casino thought the business wasn't going to make it, they would just try something else. Today you can go to Spagos - you might even see Wolfgang Puck, but probably not - but for $30 you can get something that takes three pages to describe what's in the dish then try to find the food under the garnish of parsley.

The home industry is going the same direction. What cost $85,000 went to $100 then to $150 to $200,000 and people living here are literally living weeks away from the streets thanks to the greed of everyone that saw the big boom when the volcano went off and when Steve Wynn ordered the British ship at Treasure Island (oh, sorry, the T.I.) for the first time. For all the people who paid whatever it cost to be seen and gossip about the Mirage's new restaurant or the great new place at Caesars, few of us even stop to read the menus outside, knowing by just the look of the place it's beyond our wallets.

When players ask me if I gamble, I say no and when asked why not my answer is simple: "I can't afford it." How long will everyone else be able to afford this town? When was the last time you sat down to a good dinner and walked away sipping on a nice cocktail for $10 walking down the strip with still enough money to go out to gamble? Oh that's right, all the casinos put in penny slots. I guess maybe they really do realize after they rape us on dinner, drinks and shows, the only money we're going to have left in our pants are pennies for the penny slots.

-Ken Pearlman