Page 57 - 2020 Travel Guide to California

PLACING A BET at the roulette table,
opposite; Chukchansi Gold Resort &
Casino, right; exciting slot action in
Pechanga Casino, bottom.
San Francisco Bay Area & Beyond
Without question, the Bay Area is the most
exciting region of California for gambling,
with more options than any other part of the
state. It also is home to the newest major
spot to let chips fly: Graton Resort & Casino.
This attraction, located in Rohnert Park,
is a hulking casino built and operated by
Station Casinos, one of the largest casino
companies in Las Vegas. Bettors cheer the
swanky gambling floor, which boasts a 20-
table poker room, more than 130 table
games, and thousands of slots. Foodies
flock to the place, too—the restaurant
lineup includes an outpost of local favorite
Boathouse Asian Eatery, and a food-court
outpost of Tony’s Neapolitan-style pizzeria.
Graton also opened a 200-room resort hotel
and spa in 2016.
Other Native American casinos in this
region are small but superlative in other
ways. Many, including Thunder Valley (Lin-
coln), Chukchansi (Coarsegold), Twin Pine
(Middletown) and Cache Creek (Brooks)
also have full-service hotels. Chukchansi is
the closest casino to Yosemite National
Park, just 27 miles from the southern
entrance near Wawona; it’s also just 15
miles from Bass Lake Recreation Area. Twin
Pine, nearly halfway between the wineries
of the northern Napa Valley and Lake
County, is said to be the nation’s only wine-
themed casino destination. Red Hawk, in
Placerville, offers child-care services for
tykes while mom and dad play.
Most of the other gambling options in
Northern California are card rooms, and
many are located in the suburbs of San
Francisco and Sacramento. The two most
popular: San Jose’s Bay 101 Casino, which
hosts a number of World Poker Tour events
throughout the year, and Colma’s Lucky
Chances, which doles out nearly $1 million
in cash prizes over the course of every year.
Casino M8trix, in San Jose, distinguishes
itself with a thumping nightclub.
SoCal and LA
Southern California—from the northern
edge of the San Fernando Valley to the
Mexico border, the Pacific Ocean to I-15—is
home to some of the biggest Native Amer-
ican casinos in the state, including Harrah’s
Resort Southern California in Valley Center;
Pala Casino Spa Resort in Pala; Barona
» KNOW
THE RULES
Just because California has casinos
doesn’t mean games there play the
same way they’d play in Las Vegas or
Atlantic City. Perhaps the biggest
differences: craps and roulette. State
gaming laws expressly prohibit the
outcome of a game to be determined
by dice or a ball. While the games
incorporate traditional elements
of dice and a ball, the games
themselves hinge on overturning
different types of cards.
For novices (or those just looking
for a good time), these differences
are minimal. For hard-core craps and
roulette players, however, they make
the games so foreign that adjusting
becomes tough. Ask the croupier to
review the rules before buying-in. If
a game seems confusing, don’t
bother; there are dozens of other
options throughout the casino.
2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 55