It isn’t hard to empathize with Death Cab for Cutie going: so this is the new year, and I don’t feel any different. That’s just it. We expect our luck to change simply because it’s a new year. Like, we’d be guzzling down intoxicants on New Year’s Eve yet have such high hopes 2006 will wake us up a changed man. Yeah, there’s a road where we’ve all been down before.

Half the population of California drive to Vegas for New Year’s Eve. (This explains all those blondes.) The slew of high-rollers come to town. (Hence, all that coiffure.) And I don’t think it’s to watch the fireworks. Everyone comes to Vegas to get lucky by the turn of the year. (Or, in fact, to get lucky anytime at all; we’re not choosy.)

But where to go? Well, it depends on what you’d like your luck to change into.

Perhaps you wish to be king of the world; and heaven knows we all made fun of Leo di Caprio but secretly envied him. May we suggest the MGM Grand Casino? It’s the biggest in Las Vegas, equalling four football fields. If you hit the progressive jackpot, a family in Alaska would hear about it. Harrah’s Casino isn’t as big but so jam-packed you might actually bump into said Alaskans. It’s been voted the ‘Best Place to Play Slots’ for five years straight, and has ‘party pits’ with a festive carnival vibe.

If it’s feng shui you fancy, Vegas has many casinos where things tend to be ‘looking up’. Far too many; its silly and true. Aerial dancers at Rio Casino’s Masquerade Show in the Sky will have you shaking dice on one hand and maracas on the other. High-flying trapeze acts, jugglers, and acrobats soar overhead Circus Circus Casino. Arched ceilings sporting a hand-painted fresco lead the way to The Venetian Casino. A Tiffany ceiling at Tropicana Casino opens up to aerial acrobats, contortionists, and high-stepping dancers on a stage suspended high above the slot tops. With luck, you’ll avoid a stiff neck.

Speaking of Venetian art, you might’ve come to Vegas to find luck ‘elsewhere’. Hey, whatever floats your gondola. Legs of a mock Eiffel Tower brace the Paris Las Vegas Casino, where gaming tables have Art Nouveau arches as legs. New York-New York Casino is named and modelled after Central Park, with change carts looking like mini yellow cabs. Magic carpets flanking an enormous jinni’s lamp all hang over your head at the Morrocan-tiled Aladdin Casino. (You bet: more looking up.)

No one’s presuming you’re a destitute fella wanting to start the year off rich. You could be a jaded wealthy gambler just craving attention, not unlike reality TV’s Donald Trump or Martha Stewart for one season only. Trump this: Caesars Palace, Golden Nugget, and Treasure Island Casinos are where the high-rollers go. Some Caesars Palace slot machines actually take $5,000 tokens. The baccarat-happy Spy 007 goes to Bangkok but that’s another story.

Or you can kick a$$ at the Flamingo Casino, built on mob money in 1946 by Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel and Meyer Lansky and recently resurrected by a $130 million makeover. Yes, makeovers; just wait ’til you’re rich and famous. Until then, if you’re too shy to even gamble in public, go rent a room, call room service, and surf by an online casino. You can double down in blackjack while ingesting cabbage and black-eyed peas, or play the field in craps while viewing the Tournament of Roses Parade. Nobody has to know.

Heaven forbid you should lose, The International Beer Bar at Golden Nugget serves 40 different varieties of beer. Heaven forbid you should win, the Tropicana chapel has been voted ‘Best Wedding Chapel’ for eight years in a row. So, better luck this time. In Vegas on New Year’s Eve, nobody likes you bored and broke.