Yep. We're Wild Card Club members at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa and go at least once a month, when they send us free play for the slots. It's never much - $40-$60 - but it keeps us entertained for a couple of hours. We also earn comps for playing, which we spend for lunch or save over a period of time and buy stuff at the gift shop. We also get "bounce back" money on our club cards, depending on how much we played (not necessarily won) on our last visit. We rarely play our own money. The most I've won at one visit was one of the few times I went by myself (DH was still working as a contractor in DC) when I won $3,000. The following week I went again by myself and won $2,400. Christmas was taken care of that year!
DD#1 loves to go to the casino, but she rarely gets enough free play to make it worthwhile. Occasionally her father will take pity on her (if he's been winning) and give her a couple of $20 bills and tell her to go get lucky. The first time DD#2 went to the casino, she came running up to our designated meeting place at our designated meeting time, clutching a handful of $100 bills, and whispered to me "I made rent! Let's go home!"
Like a previous poster, we consider this the cost of entertainment, and as we use the casino's money, it doesn't cost us much. We buy scratch off tickets and usually win a little +/- the cost of the tickets. We place bets within the family on March Madness, the World Series and the Super Bowl but since we rarely have dogs in those fights, the winner doesn't nag the losers about paying.
OK, now I want to go to Tampa. Excuse me while I go speak to my accountant...
Queen Colleen
