I am in Vegas for the weekend on a short vacation. We all love to gamble because it's fun and we have a chance to win a little bit of money.
I have gone gambling several times over the past few years and the best strategy for budgeting money is the following:
Bring your cash from home to Vegas. Withdraw cash from your local bank for free so you do not pay ridiculous fees to the generic Vegas ATMs.
Establish that dollar amount withdrawn, or a subset of that dollar amount as your gambling budget. For example, if that number is $400, once you lose that money, no more gambling for you for the trip. This will force you to have some self control and to understand that this money is really gone the moment you arrived in Vegas.
Budget this money as spent before we even go to Vegas. Accounting this money as spent for the trip implies that any amount left over when you go home is money 'won'!
I hope this helps people have enforce some self-control.
Remember - in Vegas or any casino you will always win money at some point.
The key is to knowing when to stop.