The Orleans is about a mile west of the mega-resorts, off Tropicana Avenue, making it a great place to consider staying if you want to easily be able to break away and check out the Strip.

Betting/Lines: All the typical betting options are available at the Orleans sportsbook, with pointspreads and totals on all the standard events dotting the daily sports schedule. Like many of the other properties located off the Strip, this book also offers a variety of football parlay cards, including standard parlays, ties win, ties win teasers and super teasers, and the Orleans also has a moneyline parlay card.

Perhaps the most intriguing option could best be termed the prime-time parlay card. The Orleans puts out this card for Sunday night and Monday night NFL games, and the card includes Thursday night games when those are on the schedule, as they often are at this time of year.

Beyond that, this book doesn’t get too fancy, as it focuses more on its race book and horse players.

Value: This property is reasonably close to the Strip, and comes with a much more reasonable price to stay there. At the same time, the Orleans offers many amenities one might expect from a more upscale hotel/casino.

The sportsbook offers limited seating, which makes all the food and drink options surrounding the book even more enticing – and most of those options have a bevy of flat screens tuned to the big games of the day. You can make your bet, then literally walk a few steps to the Mardi Gras bar and plop down in a comfortable booth, order up a drink or two and watch the game. And several more bars are located throughout the casino.

If you crave some food to go with your drink, there are plenty of options there, too, covering all price ranges. A couple examples: Drop $1.50 to get a hot dog and a beer at the book, step up a notch at the Courtyard Café for a reasonably priced breakfast, lunch or dinner, or take it upstairs from the book to the Prime Rib Loft for a little fine dining.

Experience: The Orleans is a unique book in that it caters much more to horse players, with 105 spots equipped with monitors, and the only big screen in the house is centered in the race book area. Conversely, the sportsbook has just 24 seats, all facing the counter and digital betting board, which sits below a schedule ticker and nine flat-screen monitors.

So while the sportsbook experience is limited, if you’re just looking to get down on a game, then soak in the experience at one of the many other spots at the Orleans – such as the popular Brendan’s Irish Pub – then this property is a good bet.

Extras: The sportsbook is relatively modest, but the rest of the Orleans makes up for it, at a property with pubs, lounges, a comedy club, a showroom and even the Orleans Arena, a 7,000-seat venue that hosts everything from hockey to college basketball tournaments to concerts and more.

As you might expect from the property’s name, music is a big deal, with varied acts performing at the Bourbon Street Café and at the aforementioned Brendan’s Irish Pub. So if you’re in town with your wife/girlfriend, and she wants you to take a break from the book, hit these casual venues and unwind.

Better still, the significant other would probably love to spend a pampered hour or two at Spa Orleans.

The hotel also has a 70-lane bowling center and an 18-screen movie theater.