There are many people that travel to Las Vegas that spend hours searching online for great freebies that they might find in the city. I have yet to see an article that points out some of the freebies that you need to avoid while you are in Las Vegas, until now. These are the worst Las Vegas freebies, and the ones that you should avoid like the plague. Most of these are scams.
While walking around Las Vegas, you might find a person that is willing to give you something small like a coupon or low-denomination chip if you listen to him for a few minutes about a product he is selling (I am using the masculine since I have never heard of a woman in this aspect of the scam). You might think that this is a great Las Vegas freebie until you notice that your wallet is missing. You did not notice that a young, pretty, woman was taking a freebie from you.
You might find a person with a table with three cards on it, or a few cups with a ball. This person might offer you a prize if you can follow the ball, or follow cards that get mixed up. It might only cost you a dollar or two to try. This is the, “Three Card Monte,” and it is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Using a Las Vegas freebie as bait is just mean.
At least once or twice during every trip that I have had to Las Vegas, I have been approached by someone offering me free seats to a Las Vegas show, or a gift card for a top restaurant. These people are not giving away a great Las Vegas freebie, they want you to sit through a high-pressure time share speech. Avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid.
My favorite trick is the girl that needs you to watch her dog for a few minutes while she heads into a casino to use the rest room. She tells you that if you do it, she will give you tickets to one of the big shows that she got comped. Watch out for the pickpocket in the area. The dog is usually a stray that was picked up off the street.
I have a friend that almost got taken by this scam. The only thing that saved him from getting his pocket picked is that the pickpocket did not go by him since the dog bit him (my buddy) in the hand. To this day, he is still not sure which outcome would have been worse.
If you see money or casino ships on the floor in the casino, this is not a Las Vegas freebee given to you by the gambling gods. Any tender that falls on the floor and is unclaimed by the original owner is the property of the casino. You could get asked to leave, or even arrested for playing with it.
While there are many great Las Vegas freebies, leave these ones alone. You could get a lot more than you bargained for if you mess around with any of these.
