Poker Casinos In Southern California
- In fact, two Southern California casinos, the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, and Pechanga Resort & Casino, are two of the top ten biggest casinos in the United States. Both have over 3,800 slot machines. If not in the top ten, many of Southern California’s other casinos are.
- California Poker Information The most populous state in the U.S.A. Is also swimming with poker rooms. Some of the largest of these are Commerce Casino, Bicycle Casino, and Hollywood Park Casino. Away from these behemoths, independent card rooms and poker venues are common throughout every well-populated area of the state.
Southern California is one of the most unique regions in the entire country, featuring some of America’s most famous cities and most iconic tourist destinations. As it happens, it’s also a hotspot for gambling resorts and other activities. Below we will explore the types of gambling you can enjoy, and where you can do so, when you visit Southern California.
California is a fantastic choice for the demanding live poker player. The Golden State houses more poker rooms than any other US state, or even Las Vegas for that matter. The Commerce Casino is the largest card room in the world, and one of the key players in the booming CA poker industry.
Southern California casinos are located in Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Imperial, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernandino counties.
Southern California Card Rooms
Card rooms in California are the only place you can play legal poker in person, aside from playing small games on private property. This is because players technically wager against one another. The dealer rotates after every hand. Card rooms themselves make a profit by taking a small fee from each person who participates.
Card rooms are excellent opportunities to either show off your poker skills or hone them even further. Some poker rooms are better for beginners and draw in crowds from all around the state. Others cater more to players with skill and may host a variety of professional tournaments. For instance, the Bike is a Southern California card room that sometimes doubles as a stop for the World Series of Poker.
Card rooms feature tables with a variety of buy-in limits and pool sizes.
Where To Play
Here are some of the top Southern California card rooms you can check out:
The Bicycle Hotel And Casino
This is arguably the most famous California card room thanks to its brush-ups with law enforcement over the years. These days, “the Bike” is a legit establishment that includes tons of poker games, plus a plethora of Cal Games with dramatically varying limits. Legends of Poker, a tournament series running since 1995, still runs here to this day. The Bike includes a seven-story hotel with live entertainment venues and other gaming opportunities.
Commerce Casino
The Commerce Casino is the largest card room in the entire world with over 270 poker tables. A 200-room hotel, an attached dining establishment, and more amenities make it a perfect place to stay to check out the greater Los Angeles area.
The casino also serves as the site for many major tournaments. Although it draws in plenty of skilled poker players, it’s also has a reputation for being beginner-friendly thanks to the poker-teaching classes it offers every week.
Hawaiian Gardens Casino
This casino is open 24 hours daily and includes over 150,000 ft.² of gaming space with over 220 tables. It includes a restaurant, cash games, massage services, auto shuffling machines, and cocktail services.
Hawaiian Gardens is an all-inclusive resort and casino rather than a dedicated poker room, but this makes it a great fit for general tourists or casino fans who also want to brush up on their poker skills while on vacation.
Southern California Indian Casinos
While most forms of gambling are illegal in California, tribal casinos are legal, and they remain havens of gambling activity. This is because tribal casinos are technically on Indian land instead of California state government property. As a result, state gambling legislation does not apply.
This allows Indian casinos to offer most major gambling activities you would expect from a classic casino and resort. Social games or gambling activities for money like bingo, lottery games, poker, slot machines, blackjack, and any other electronic games are all available in different amounts or in different themes depending on the resort in question. Games are either regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission or by state authorities, depending on the type of game.
The tribal casino industry draws in over $8 billion of revenue every year, so each casino features its own theme and may add new areas or improvements from time to time. Southern California Indian casinos tend to emphasize LA or San Diego culture and iconography, featuring palm trees, movie imagery, and more. Lots of casinos emphasize their proximity to Hollywood and may include attached hotels. In this way, they serve as excellent resorts to stay at if you want to tour the greater SoCal area while also scratching your gambling itch.
Where To Play
Because of the generally warm and sunny weather that SoCal resorts enjoy, most Indian casinos in this region also feature pools or spas. Most SoCal resorts are around the LA, San Diego, or Riverside areas. Here are some of the best Southern California tribal casinos available:
Pechanga Resort Casino
This is actually the largest casino available in California, nearing 190,000 ft.² and including over 4,500 slot machines. There’s also a lot of other things to enjoy, including over 20 restaurants and bars, and a hotel that includes over 1,000 rooms. A 25,000 ft.² spa ensures you can relax as well as you can play while staying at this resort.
San Manuel Casino
This casino is currently set to add a new spa and hotel as early as 2021, and it’s one of the best resorts if you enjoy Asian or “Cal” games, like special variants of blackjack and other games. Several bars and restaurants are available in addition to its main gambling area.
Viejas Casino and Resort
Just 36 miles east of San Diego, this resort recently underwent remodeling in 2006 and now has a new high limit gaming area of over 15,000 ft.². It’s a great resort if you want to bet big and maybe win or lose it all. It also offers just about 1,000 slot machines, plus three hotels and a plethora of attached restaurants and bars.
Southern California Race Tracks
California has a particularly rich history with horse racing. There were even a few tracks open before full legalization in 1933. Horse race betting became legal when tracks came to a pari-mutuel business model, meaning that players wager against one another. The tracks themselves make a profit by taking a small cut of overall pools.
Where once there were many more racetracks throughout the state, now there are only four major racetracks at which major derbies and other races are held. However, Southern California arguably has the better part of this deal, as three of the four major tracks are located in the southern half of the state. This means horse racing enthusiasts have options within driving distance of one another, plus access to some of the best horse racing facilities in the state.
Where To Go
Below are some the best Southern California horse racing tracks around:
Santa Anita Park
This race track, opened in 1907, has played host to major racing legends including Seabiscuit. The one-mile natural dirt track and 9/1o of a mile turf course holds races through the early fall, winter, and spring seasons. More interestingly, the park is home to hillside turf course (one of the few you can find in the entire country). In 2007, the park also introduced a new cushion track with synthetic elements mixed with dirt. Tons of excellent facilities and amenities make it a great place to watch races for enthusiasts and tourists alike.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Also called the Del Mar Fairgrounds, this 1936 race track now has a mile-long racecourse and has been the site of many high-stakes races, like the Pacific Classic Stakes in the 90s. The turf course was widened in 2014 and the main track was renovated for added cushioning for the horses’ safety. Tons of graded events are held every year, and the overall Fairgrounds host plenty of other entertainment venues and activities like a hat contest, Friday night concerts, and “Family Fun” days.
Los Alamitos Race Course
This track hosts both thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races. It also provides high-stakes Quarter Horse races with purses totaling over $1 million. Legally opened in 1951, it’s one of the most modern racecourses in existence. It doesn’t host as many graded events as the other tracks, but its proximity to Los Angeles makes it a popular tourist destination and a great place for horse racing enthusiasts to stop by while touring LA.
Southern California Gambling FAQ
It’s mostly because many famous Californian cities are located in the southern half of the state. Los Angeles and San Diego are just two of the biggest metropolitan areas in the Golden State, so they’re naturally good places for gambling sites to stake a claim.
Technically, the legal gambling age is 18-years-old. However, you need to be 21-years-old to enter many Indian casinos because of alcohol restrictions.
No. Sports betting technically isn’t legal, although tribal casinos may bring brick-and-mortar sports betting to their casino locations in the next few years.
Not really, with the exception of daily fantasy sports and online horse race betting. The former is only technically legal because there isn’t a law explicitly forbidding it.
Most are regulated by state authorities, although tribal activities are regulated by the NIGC.
California casinos are not what they seem. If you are new to California and have previously only experienced Atlantic City or Las Vegas style casinos, you will be surprised to learn about all of the new rules and formats at the majority of casinos here. Harrah’s Resort Southern California is in the minority when it comes to CA casinos, since it is almost the same as all major Las Vegas destinations. Other than a few small game differences, your general experience will be just about the same.
The resort itself is located in a somewhat desolate area that you will arrive at by driving up 12 miles of windy roads. Surprisingly, there are several other casinos in the nearby area, including Pala Casino, Pauma Casino, Valley View Casino, and Pechanga Casino. Each of these properties are located several miles from one another, but they are all within a roughly 20 minute drive. The area is able to sustain such a large casino industry because of its proximity to San Diego. Needless to say, Rincon is among the most popular in this area.
Casino at Harrah’s Southern California
The casino at Harrah’s SoCal is very modern and refined. When compared to just about any other Caesars Entertainment property, this one stands out in a very positive way. Unfortunately, over the years the majority of CET properties have steadily declined in just about every way possible. Harrah’s Southern California, however, is both newer and was also recently remodeled. When you walk in, you will feel like it is a brand new resort, and for all intents and purposes, it just about is.
Craps and Roulette at Harrah’s Rincon
The games available at Harrah’s Rincon are not limited, and include everything you would find at any major casino. With that said, there are some caveats worth mentioning. Even on Indian land as is the case with this casino, California laws prohibit the use of balls and dice in their games. For this reason, craps and roulette have significant tweaks. The craps tables allow dice to be thrown, but the result is then used to correlate with playing cards that are placed on the numbers to determine winners and losers. For a craps player, this is likely to become quite boring and annoying. You will not usually hear loud ruckus coming from Harrah’s Southern California craps tables like you would expect from other casinos.
Roulette works with a similar workaround to that of craps in order to circumvent the very odd California laws in place. Instead of a ball being rolled and landing on a number, the roulette wheel is spun and slaps playing cards one by one. You place your bet according to which one you think will be the final “slapped” card rather than where a ball will land. The roulette games is effectively the same thing as what you would find in other casinos, but if you are used to traditional roulette, it could certainly come off as very odd, because, well, it is.
Slot Machines at Harrah’s Rincon
There is an ample supply of slot machines at this casino and they make up the majority of the floor. The repeat clientele seems to primarily frequent these machines, and they cover around 80% of the floor as a whole. Even with this large number of games to choose from, on busy weekends, you may find it tough to get on a game. There is a video poker section that is located in the north east section of the casino (if you are entering from the front). The video poker games here do not pay particularly well, with 98% payback generally being the best that is available in the non-high limit sections.
Poker Room at Harrah’s Rincon
A poker room is also in operation at Harrah’s Southern California, but it is rare that more than a few games are running, and when they do, they will be low limits. For the most part, the games running are going to be $1/$2 NLHE and $2/$4 LHE. If you are looking to play higher stakes games in the nearby area, Pechanga will be your best option.
Bars and Dining at Harrah’s Southern California
For the size of the resort, there is a lot to choose from when it comes to bars and dining at Harrah’s SoCal. Everything from low end, late night food like Pink’s Hot Dogs to Fiore Steakhouse and Seafood are available. There is also a buffet that is frequently full, and is located in the dead middle of the casino action to the west side. In addition to these options, there is also a noodle bar named Fortunes and a street taco style restaurant that is named ‘Ritas Cantina. No matter the hour of the day or the type of food you are after, you will be able to find it at Harrah’s Resort Southern California.
In terms of bars, you will find two different primary destinations. The first bar is located just to the right of the beginning of the main casino floor. This is primarily a video poker bar with a few tables for seating. The video poker tables actually pay fairly since the drinks cannot be comped at this casino due to California laws. This goes for the Diamond Lounge also. Drinks are charged while the food is free. This is unlike Diamond Lounges in the majority of states where unlimited alcohol is included for free.
The other bar is located in the north area of the casino floor and is sports bar oriented. It too is loaded with the same video poker machines. Food can also be ordered at this bar. The bars are about equal in terms of general feel and experience, with no real differences between the two.
Hotel at Harrah’s Southern California
There are 1,065 total rooms at Harrah’s SoCal Resort. These rooms are split into two different towers, north and south, similar to the layout of another Caesars property, Planet Hollywood. In general the rooms are very nice, especially when compared to what you would find at your typical Caesars property. Renovations over the past few years have upgraded the rooms to be higher quality than you would even find in most Las Vegas casinos.
There are a number of upgraded rooms available, though they can be tough to secure since they are not in high supply. If you are a big player and/or reserve your room well in advance, you will have a better chance at landing a suite. These offer balcony’s and other amenities that standard rooms do not have.
Room rates, especially during the week and off season, are very reasonable. If you are visiting during the summer months, however, expect to pay a significant amount for a weekend visit. Since the San Diego weather is perfect for vacationing, the resort is typically jam packed throughout the summer weekends. There is a fitness center located in the lobby area of the hotel, right next to the entrance to the pool. A room key is required for entrance to the gym, and a number of different machines and equipment are available.
Southern California Casinos List
Pool at Harrah’s Southern California
Casinos In Southern California Map
The pool and swim up bar at this resort is one of its best selling features, especially during the warmer months of the year. Since Valley Center is located up in the mountains and desert, you will get all of the sun and heat that you can handle. This makes for perfect pool weather, and Harrah’s built a long, windy, lazy river style pool to accommodate. Kids and adults alike will fill the pool areas to the point where it can sometimes be hard to find an open seat.
The pool also offers a swim up bar right across from the lazy river section. During the summer, this is the most popular bar to visit, and they offer a number of unique drinks that you will not find at the bars inside the casino itself. If you are visiting and it is hot outside, we highly recommend checking out the pool, as its usage is included with your stay. If you would like, you can pay an extra charge for a cabana. Food and drinks can also be ordered from servers who are working around the pool area.