UnregisteredGuest

$500 won't get you anywhere near 2500 points if you don't hit large wins and give it all back. Last month I got 700 points, playing mostly $1.5-2.5 slots, total loss from original bankroll was about $400, but.... and i still regret this very much, I played back a $450 win in less than an hour on the first day and I don't even count the smaller wins <$100 that I always played back. So I wouldn't agree that its a good advice what many people says to play back winnings. If I didn't I would have come out more than ahead, although some 100 points or so less. So real money lost is closer to $1000-1200 including the wins that I played back. Of course this is anecdotal from my side but in my case I saw a return of aprox 1 point for every $2 lost.

I bought 2-4 cans of beer in every port two weeks ago on our Baltic cruise and security never said anything. But they did however take my bottle of Jägermeister that I also bought in port so they do check for booze. I guess as long as you don't buy a large pack of 24 beers or something you will be fine..