I have been to Las Vegas 4 times and its the best Holiday I have ever been on. I will never set foot in another Spanish Holiday resort again as these are overpriced waste of money. I know you said a mate is sorting flights etc.. but look for yourself and compare prices. Book direct for your hotel and dont get shafted by Thompson or any other agencies. I guarantee unless your mate has a massive staff discount you can do a lot better than what Thompson will offer.

7 nights in the MGM can be had for approx $500 for the first week of August. Use this site http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/trav...25/?start=2080 to check all the latest Hotel deals, look for coupon codes for your hire car and book direct with the company. I got an SUV for £245 for two weeks for this year. I fly direct to Vegas with Virgin and it cost us £360pp and I would honestly recommend flying direct as opposed to a stop over.

As for your budget, it depends how much you will gamble and how good you are at it. Food as the others have said is very cheap and I would recommend the Buffets at Planet Hollywood, Rio and The Orleans.

If you are looking for cheap tickets for the shows there is an outlet called Tix4Tonite and they offer cheaper tickets for the shows. These are only for sale on the day of the show and cant be bough for another day etc..