While end-of-summer travel typically dominates this time of year, experts say travelers may want to begin planning their holiday trips now.

There was a time, not too long ago, when gamblers who exhausted their bankroll had to get up from a slot machine or table game to find more money. A trip to the ATM, casino cage or back to the hotel room created a brief pause before the next wager.

From high in the hills around Las Vegas, tourist Choune Osterero gazes down at the line of chalky mineral deposits left on the rocks around Lake Mead as the level of America's largest reservoir has dropped over the last quarter of a century of drought.