Page 33 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to California

5TH HOLE AT JOURNEY, Pechanga Resort
Casino’s links-style golf course, bottom;
Catalina Island Casino, right.
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 largest
casino in Sonoma County: Graton Resort
& Casino.
This attraction, located in Rohnert Park,
is operated by Station Casinos, one of the
largest casino companies in Las Vegas, that
announced in 2023 a massive expansion
which will double the size of both the
casino and the hotel by 2025.
For now, bettors cheer the swanky gam-
bling floor, which boasts a live poker room,
over 100 table games, and 3,000 state-of-
the-art slots. Foodies flock to the place,
too—the restaurant lineup includes an out-
post of local favorite Boathouse Asian
Eatery, and a food-court outpost of twelve-
time world pizza champion Tony
Gemignani's Italian food eateries. There is
also a 200-room hotel with a full house of
amenities, including a full-service spa and
salon, and fitness center.
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.
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 dif-
ferences: 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 them-
selves 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.
2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 31