That was my go-to move when friends would plan a trip to a casino. I don't have the patience to learn and practice the odds-shaving tricks out there and I don't have the disposable income to toss down a decent chunk on the slight chance that I'll win an amount proportional to the risk...

...but I do like hanging out with my friends and occasionally agreed to join up. In the end, I just hung out and played low-stakes games, getting "free" drinks the whole time. Ended up spending about as much as if we'd decided to hang out at a moderately pricey bar, got tipsy, and had a good time hanging out with my friends.

I just looked at it like any other night out spending a few bucks on drinks and maybe a few more playing Megatouch or feeding the jukebox. At no point did I hold any expectations of winning loads of money.

As a broke grad student, I did the same; except, I never really bet anything. I would put $20 in the slot machine, and promptly hit the "drink service" button. Once the drink came, I'd hit the "cash out" button, collect my $20 and move on. I know this sounds terrible, but (a) I didn't have the spare cash to throw away at the casino, and (b) I didn't have the skills to actually play any of the games where skills counted (like poker or blackjack).