ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

“The Fremont East District”

Say those words to the majority of locals, and you’ll get a reaction not unlike this:

“Oh gawd!  Can you believe we spent so much money on that thing!”

To say that Fremont East has not been well-received would be an understatement.

Fremont East launched in August of 2007, after the Mayor and the City decided to pay $5.5 Million to install some fancy light fixtures on Fremont St. between Main St. and 7h Street.

I was one of the people who initially shat upon the idea.  I thought it was stupid, and a complete waste of money.  I was one of those in “what were they thinking???” chorus.

Now, I haven’t had a complete change of heart.  I still think five million dollars of taxpayer cash is too much for the glass slipper, the showgirl, and the martini glass.

But, what’s done is done.   We’re not getting a refund.  It’s been here for a year and a half, and since I paid for it … I might as well enjoy it.

Now that my disdain for the price tag has worn off, I have to admit … the light sculptures are attractive.  Two years ago, the area was very frightening and foreboding to the average tourist.  Now it’s just scary.

This is an improvement.

There are a couple of bars on Fremont East, a guitar shop, a tattoo parlor, and the place really is starting to take on the feel of a bona-fide Downtown destination.

Last night, there were still some racing revelers, and even a chick in hot pants standing on top of a trailer.  They were taking some kind of promotional shots of her up on the rig.  I snapped the first picture from behind, then ran around to the front and asked her for a better shot.  She politely posed for me, but her own lighting kind of washed out the shot.

It must be noted that Fremont East is still the inner-city, so unless you are from a central city area and are used to what that entails, I would advise walking in pairs at the very least.  It’s not a good place for a lone tourist to wander by themselves.

While taking the photographs on this page, one homeless guy walked up behind me and asked “How much is that camera worth?”.  Another guy asked me if I had “$10 for a beer” (Where does this guy shop for beer?), and yet another guy approached me and asked “Are you looking for some fine black pu**y?”.  I found this to be offensive, because I hate it when people ask obvious questions.

Of course I was looking for some fine, black … anyway.

Due to his rude demeanor, I declined his invitation.  Had he been a little more polite, I might very well be in a better mood today.

After missing this prime opportunity to get some chocolate on my peanut butter, I decided to do some gaming in the El Cortez.  The El Cortez is another one of those “love it or hate it” Downtown properties. Absolutely nobody is neutral toward the ElCo.  Depending on who you ask, it’s either the largest dump on God’s Green Earth, or one of the best places in Las Vegas for cheap gambling and great odds.

Personally, I like the ElCo.   Not as much as the Golden Nugget or Binion’s, but I give the El Cortez props for one thing.  They try.  Even though the property is in one of those areas that your mother warns you about, and it is isolated from the rest of Downtown, they still go to great lengths to make the property clean, safe, and comfortable.

In my opinion, they succeed more than they fail.

They have even been trying some fun gimmicks lately that are usually reserved for Strip properties.  One of these gimmicks is the “Party Pit”.

On Friday and Saturday nights between 6pm and 2am, the El Cortez puts three young and attractive dealers at the end of the Blackjack pit, and ups the minimum bets from $5 to $10 at these tables.  This cluster of tables is known as “The Party Pit”.

Of course, this idea is not new.  Caesars, Excalibur, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, etc all have their own twist on this concept.  The idea is that if you put hot female dealers behind tables, the gamblers will come.

This ploy generally works pretty well, but it doesn’t seem to have quite caught on at the ElCo yet.  As you can see from the photo, absolutely nobody was playing in the Party Pit.  Apparently, at the Cortez, people want their $3 minimums much more than they want hot dealers.

While the Party Pit is, in theory, a good idea, I see a fatal flaw in the execution.

As it stands right now, the “party dealers” are wearing entirely too much clothing.  Seriously, the women themselves are perfectly attractive, but the face of a hot female is just not enough for most people to give up table limits.  They need to drastically reduce the amount of fabric the women are wearing in order to entice more male gamblers.  There is simply no cleavage showing, nor is there much skin at all showing.

It’s kind of like going to a Strip Club, and having the dancer come out in a burqa.  Sure the women inside of the clothes may be attractive … but they are in frigging burqas.  They need to lose some of the fabric.

Aside from that, the dealers are really great.  I was the only person playing in the Party Pit, and the girls all had winning personalities. They were chatty, happy, and one was cool enough to pose for a grainy cellphone shot.

I believe this is a fairly new attraction at the ElCo, so I am confident that they will tweak it a bit over the months, and  by the time the summer crowds arrive, they may have a real “Party Pit” that draws some more action.

I walked away from the Party Pit with a few more bucks than I sat down with, but because I was the only player there for most of the session, I over-tipped.  That’s one reason I hate to play heads-up with the dealer.  I feel like I am solely responsible for their tokes.  I did want to support this endeavor, though, and give it some business, but next time I am going to make sure some other players are at the table as well.

All in all, it was an enjoyable night on Fremont East and the ElCo.

If you have avoided the area before, and I don’t blame you if you have, maybe buddy-up and give it a shot on your next visit.

If you get nothing else from the experience, you will at the very least be able to procure some fine black tail.

And really, deep down, isn’t that what we all want?

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