questions about going to vegas sportsbooks for first time

[beetman]

I always get my money before I leave and keep it in a fanny pack. A trip bankroll of around 10k has always been sufficient for me and it's easy to keep that much in a fanny pack.

Re: walking around, you'll want to get a list of which books are owned by which companies so you avoid duplicating your effort. Leroy's, Harrah's, and MGM/Mirage's lines are all duplicated at a bunch of sportsbooks, ex. the Sahara, Hooters, and the Tropicana all have Leroy's outlets.

The strip itself is quite long, probably about 5 miles, and you'll do a lot more walking than that if you actually walk up and down the strip because a) crossing the streets often requires walking up stairs, crossing a bridge, and walking down stairs and b) most casino's sportsbooks are in the back of the casino, so you'll do a lot of walking inside the casino. And, some of the good books are a bit off the strip, i.e. the Palms and the Hilton. (Both have independent lines and are nice places to watch the games.)

Two things I've done to save time--1) use the monorail. An all-access monorail pass that's good for 72 hours is $45, and the monorail has 6 stops up and down the strip, including ones right inside certain casinos, including the Sahara, Hilton, and MGM Grand. When I was there last spring for the NCAA tourney, I got some NIT game +6 at the Hilton when everywhere else had +5.5 or +5. The game landed on the 6, so that one bet paid for the monorail pass and then some. 2) take advantage of free trams and shuttles. For ex. there's a free shuttle from the Barbary Coast to the Orleans (off-strip), shuttles that go to the Gold Coast (which I think is right across the street from the Palms), a shuttle from the convention center monorail stop to the Wynn, a tram between Mirage and Treasure Island, a tram between Mandalay Bay and Luxor, etc. A lot of the free shuttles just take you between properties owned by the same company (so those properties will have the same lines) but the shuttle might still save you time if you're going to a casino near one of the properties.

Re: websites with odds, Vegas Insider has some:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/nfl/odds/las-vegas/

There are links on that page for other sports. They have some future odds listed, but no MLB season wins. As a general rule of thumb, future odds in Las Vegas of the form "odds to win division" or "odds to win world series" are absolutely atrocious with a ridiculous hold. I don't know what odds are currently up or at what limits.