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Las Vegas is the Plastic Capital
of the World and a Silly Place
to Day Trade
Internet Access
in Vegas
Is Supreme, But
Who Cares?
Online day trading
in Las Vegas?
That's utterly stupid. Or is it? I took a quick trip to Vegas the
other day to test out my Runaway trading savvy. Much has changed since
I was last there, some 20 years ago, but it still stinks, unless
you're heavy into tireless bouts yanking slot machines and scratching
the felt of those gambling tables.
My home away
from home is a spacious pad, and I do mean, spacious, with huge
floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Vegas Strip (Las Vegas
Blvd.). The Mirage, Treasure Island, Frontier, and something new being
built are in the foreground.
This hotel room
has everything. Well, almost everything. It’s got in-room Internet (ethernet).
It’s got a fax. There's charming phone that sits upright with
backlight pushbuttons to everything in the hotel (messages, concierge,
wakeup, bell desk, etc. Wall-mounted flat-screen TV (with
Internet). And a neat little desk for day trading and all the power
and hi-speed Internet connections at table-height. And best of all for
traders like me, they've got
a wall safe
that’s big enough to securely store a 15.4” laptop.
But, no coffee.
Yes, room service at $7 a pop ($14) for a liter. It’s $4.04 in a deli
downstairs where $4 buys a large coffee.
Still, this is a
town I absolute love to hate. It’s Disneyland writ large. As
plastic as a $2 toilet brush. On the other hand, I’m an old PR guy.
And I truly marvel at the job the Las Vegas Convention Bureau (if
that’s who’s responsible) for making this town so media visible. From
my hideout in Minneapolis, I can’t help but be inundated with ads, and
print, and TV stuff from every direction (The History Channel,
Discover, etc.)
Day Trading
My hotel room
has both Bloomberg and CBS Market Watch on the TV. I prefer CBS, but I
hate their drippy morning crew with the exception of the babes (I
admit to having a high school crush on Erin Burnett).
 But It’s ironic.
Sitting here day trading from a hotel room in gambling/casino capitol
of the world, while watching Don Lapre (http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/lapre.html)
bamboozle folks about his latest scheme, Saving Lives Across
America.
On the other hand, which is
sillier---day trading in Las Vegas, buying in to Lapre's latest
scheme, or pulling the slots down on first floor? It's hard to tell,
isn't it? '
Gambling is gambling, and as long
as you don't delude yourself to thinking these bets are "safe" you'll
be alright.
Sight-Seeing In
Vegas
After the market
closed, I took a walking tour of the strip, visiting most of the
casinos I hadn’t seen in more than 20 years. The newer spots are more
grandiose than the old casinos. Bellagio, Venetian, Paris, New York,
etc., are
interestingly different, like Wynn’s. But the Frontier, Bally’s, Flamingo,
and Aladdin,
are really bad, especially Aladdin. I don’t think that joint has
changed in 20 years. The Caesar’s Place has changed remarkably,
although I think it was one of the nicer spots even back two decades
ago. I should hope that most of these joints have met the wrecking
ball by the time you read this. That's the Frontier below on right.
Nevertheless,
once you get inside the casino, all of these places are
drearily the same; the same cacophonous sounds of ringing bells and
clattering coins; the same tired players who sit and endlessly feed
the machines their dead presidents.
Frankly, if I’ve
seen one, I’ve seen them all. Well, not quite. The next casino I'd
want to visit is Monaco on the Mediterranean, while shacking up in the
Hotel de Paris. But that takes some doin' since a room at in this inn
cost 649 euros a night. Right now, that's a little
out of my trading class. But never say never.
My Las
Vegas Runaway Tab
Since my
computer melted down a few months ago, I've had to resurrect my travel
expenditures. But I note that:
Hotel: $495 ($149 night plus
in-room Internet fees)
Airfare: $223
Food and Fun: $275
Total: $993
Day Trading Income: $1745.95
Runaway Result: Free trip plus $752.95
earned income
---Yours Truly, the Runaway Trader
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