Page 62 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

CASINOS
merce Casino (Commerce) and the Bicycle
Club (Bell Gardens). Both venues have
expansive poker rooms and host some of
the most popular tournaments in the area.
The Desert
Package deals abound for stay-and-play
vacations at casino resorts in and around
the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs. At
Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon,
for instance, $199 per night gets guests a
room plus a $30 casino credit and a $100
credit at one of the on-site restaurants.
Similar deals are available at the Agua
Caliente Casino Resort Spa (Rancho
Mirage). Most area casinos have their own
golf courses, but locals rave about Eagle
Falls, the course at Fantasy Springs Resort
Casino in Indio. The 18-hole course was
designed by architect Clive Clark.
PECHANGA CASINO, top; Morongo Casino
Resort & Spa in Cabazon, above.
Resort Southern California in Valley Center;
Pala Casino Spa Resort in Pala; Barona
Resort & Casino in Lakeside; and Pechanga
Resort & Casino in Temecula. All of these
properties boast Vegas-style hotels with
eateries, shopping and spas. In 2014, after
a $160-million renovation, Harrah’s opened
a new 403-room hotel tower and a pool
deck that features a lazy river and weekend
parties with live deejays.
Closer to Los Angeles, the name of the
game is card rooms. Two facilities are worth
visiting for their grandeur alone: the Com-
Lake Tahoe
Okay, okay, so the casinos that sidle up to
Lake Tahoe are on the Nevada side of the
state line. Still, they’re close enough to
most other destinations in California that
they deserve a mention here.
Excluding those in Reno, the most acces-
sible venues are located in South Lake
Tahoe. Here, the Montbleu Resort, Casino
& Spa (formerly a Caesars property) is by far
the swankiest, with ultra-modern lounges
and a steakhouse that makes Ruth’s Chris
seem like McDonald’s. The Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino Lake Tahoe, with 500 hotel rooms
and a 25,000-square-foot casino, opened in
2015 in the old Horizon Casino Resort space
located down the street.
Of course the best thing about casinos at
Lake Tahoe is that because they’re in Nevada,
they play by Nevada rules (see sidebar).
Since sports books and dice games are illegal
in the state of California, this means Tahoe
is the spot to place those kinds of bets.
Big spenders, consider yourselves warned.
And good luck.
60 2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
PECHANGA CASINO; BYRON W.MOORE/SHUTTERSTOCK