The State of Indian Casinos in the Central Valley of California

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GamblingResort.com

The happy-go-lucky traveling bloggers from GamblingResort.com hit the road this week to take a look at a few of the Indian casinos in the great Central Valley and Gold Country territory of California.

Any time the crew can hit the road and get away from the stressful environs of Los Angeles is time well spent.

Departing from Long Beach by car and first driving over the never-ending "Grapevine" of Interstate 5, these travelers made the transition to the old Highway 99 heading north towards Fresno. This road is a more direct route to casinos that are sprinkled throughout the farm belt of the Central Valley.

Fresno was to be tonight's welcomed resting place after visits to both the Eagle Mountain Casino west of Porterville and the Tachi Palace near Lemoore.

To find Eagle Mountain, head east on Highway 190 from Highway 99 towards Porterville, then right on Road 284, left on Indian Reservation Road and follow the signs along a road some 11 miles long and full of switchbacks right to the casino.

This road winds through territory that is occupied by the Tule River Tribe of Yokuts. The trip is slow going to anyone who might happen to get stuck behind groups of gamblers riding buses provided by the casino. Plenty of buses seemed to be making this trip in both directions.

Evidence of brush fires blanket the surrounding hills as this land is hot and dry in summertime. It is unclear how recent these brush fires were but the blackened hills extend as far as the eye can see along this road to the casino.

For more information about this casino, click here.

After spending some time in the casino and dropping a few bucks at the tables, the GamblingResort.com crew headed back into the Central Valley for the town of Lemoore, location of the Tachi Palace.

Tachi Palace is a massive and impressive architectural complex that rises out of the cornfields and dairy farms of the Valley. This casino and hotel resort lies west of Highway 99 and north of Corcoran State Prison and is easy to get to. But keep your road map or GPS handy.

For more information about Tachi Palace, click here.

It is owned and operated by the Tachi Yokut Tribe on the Santa Rosa Rancheria.

After spending a night in Fresno, the traveling bloggers of GamblingResort.com also visited the Table Mountain Casino in Friant and the more "modest" Mono Wind Casino in Auberry, both long drives, so it seemed, from Fresno. More information about these casinos can be found here and here, respectively.

Check out the unique photos of these casinos and the other casinos mentioned in this report on GamblingResort.com. This travel site features the best and most extensive collection of gambling resort photos on the internet.

The highlight of this part of the trip came when the crew headed northeast into the hills beyond Fresno in search of Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in a place called Coarsegold.

Chukchansi Gold is no ordinary casino. This is one of the most beautiful Indian casinos in the entire United States. This casino rates "4 Aces" at GamblingResort.com and for good reason.

Part luxury resort lodge, part mining encampment, but gilded by gold in every respect, Chukchansi Gold is tucked away among towering trees in an area far from the madding crowds of the city. It is a peaceful place where one can gamble to the end of time without ever realizing that time has passed at all, as long as the bankroll holds out of course.

According to Wikipedia, the name of Coarsegold derives from the California Gold Rush of the 1850's when prospectors discovered coarse lumps of gold in a nearby creek. Dozens of gold mines operated in the area at one time.

After finally departing Fresno and the hot Central Valley, the crew of GamblingResort.com headed north and then east again into the cooler climes of the Sierra Nevada foothills.

This is truly the "Gold Country" of California where some 150 years ago gold was discovered on the American River at Coloma at Sutter's Mill in 1848. Virtually overnight, towns sprang up nearby to accommodate the incoming hordes of new arrivals from around the world.

The historic and scenic Highway 49 runs through these towns and is one of the most spectacularly beautiful routes a car traveler could ever hope to take.

Towns like Jamestown, Sonora, Columbia, Angels Camp and Jackson, some with wooden sidewalks still intact, evoke memories of a time when the typical possessions prized by the settlers were a mining pan, a pick-axe and a mule.

But, what is a gold miner doing in a gold mining town without a deck of cards and a pair of dice?

Hard days spent scratching the earth for nuggets of gold evolved or, maybe, devolved, into long nights of drinking and gambling. Saloons, gambling halls and cat houses lined the streets of these towns and when the gold played out, the next town over the next hill offered comfort until the gold played out there too.

But step out of the car for a moment and into the morning coolness of a summer day in these hills and the smell of gold still hangs in the air as it did way back then.

Step into Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne, only 10 miles from Sonora.  This place is a true reflection of the modern Indian casino set in the lush green environment of Gold Country. Tuolumne County, after all, is home to Yosemite National Park. Take Highway 49 south to Highway 120 east. No natural wonder in the world can compare to Yosemite.

Black Oak Casino has a towering entry way, a 23,000 square foot casino, some 28 table games and over 1,000 slots.

This place is at the epicenter of Gold Country and the wholesome, fresh air that goes with that.

The last stop in Central California for the now weary travelers of GamblingResort.com was in Jackson, location of the Jackson Rancheria Casino. This resort is owned by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians.

The casino is some 250,000 square feet. Once inside, it gets somewhat difficult to find the nearest exit. The place was packed with people midday on a Tuesday. The parking structure behind the casino is huge as well, necessary to accommodate the rush of cards streaming in.

Imposing sculptures of eagles and bison adorn the pathway to the casino and photos of these creature can be found here.

It is alone worth the trip into these hills to see these beautiful animals on display in all their representational glory.

The travel website, GamblingResort.com, provides information about all Indian casinos in California and other states. It is a great resource for those planning to visit a gambling destination here or anywhere else in the country. One can find all sorts of useful stuff, including photos, casino statistics, map locators, addresses and phone numbers for every casino in the USA and beyond. One can also book hotels at GamblingResort.com. Give it a try!

The State of Indian Casinos in Oklahoma

A Travelogue from the Bloggers at GamblingResort.com

GamblingResort.com recently spent a fun week in the state of Oklahoma.

GamblingResort.com thought it would be a great idea to travel around this beautiful state to take a first hand look at Indian casinos as some 25% of all Indian casinos in the United States are located here.

In fact, the Sooner state is host to more than 90 Indian casinos of various sizes, shapes and qualities.

Extensive information about Indian casinos in all states can be found at GamblingResort.com.

This casino information and travel site also rates venues on a "Four Ace" scale. The highest quality places receive a rating of "Four Aces."

Automobile was the preferred mode of travel in this quest to visit as many places as possible within a week's time. At the end of the trip, some 1,200 miles were logged by the road-weary Chevrolet HHR rental car used by the bloggers at GamblingResort.com.

These are the Indian tribes that own casinos in Oklahoma:  Absentee Shawnee. Apache. Arapaho. Cherokee. Cheyenne. Chickasaw. Choctaw. Citizen Band Potawatomi. Comanche. Creek. Delaware. Eastern Shawnee. Fort Sill Apache. Iowa. Kaw. Kickapoo. Kiowa. Miami. Modoc. Osage. Otoe-Missouria. Ottawa. Pawnee. Peoria. Ponca. Quapaw. Sac and Fox. Wyandotte.

Finding some of the casinos on back-country roads on Indian land is no easy task. Google maps might point one in the general direction, but could not quite pin down some spots.

Many times it became necessary to get directions the old fashioned way: by asking a friendly Oklahoman.

Most locals knew exactly where these places were. "Go four miles east." Or, "Make a left at the last traffic light before the highway and you can't miss it." Or, "It's north of town on the way to Tulsa."

And, then came the rain. Serious rain. The kind of rain that renders windshield wipers useless. An unfamiliar road in an unfamiliar place became a blind alleyway in which the onslaught of water buried any hope one might have had of driving further for a time.

The car was eased to the nearest exit point to stop and wait it out.

Some forty minutes later a sliver of light broke through the clouds. Blue skies never looked so good. At times, Oklahoma is at the crossroads of turbulent weather in America. This is "Tornado Alley," after all, an area hammered over the years by storms all too familiar to the local settlers.

Now the wide-eyed travelers from California got a sense of what the locals new all too well.

Same with some of the Indian casinos scattered about the state. Some of these casinos are definitely more impressive than others, but with some 90 or so to choose from, that's no surprise.

Take the Riverwind, west of Norman.  It is a beautiful place and it's easy to find.  It sits just off Interstate 35 at  State Highway 9 going west, not too far from the exit ramp.

This brightly colored building rises conspicuously out of the prairie like a blue whale surfacing for air at sea.

Hard to imagine that anybody could continue down the nearby interstate without stopping here first to at least take a closer look.

The casino is 76,000 square feet, has some 2,300 slots and dozens of table games like blackjack.  This place rates a 3 out of 4 aces.

A new hotel there is currently under construction as of this writing and should be completed later in the year.

This casino is owned by the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.  More information about it can be found here.

Another favorite of the crew at GamblingResort.com is located in the northeast corner of the state. More precisely, the Downstream Casino Resort can be found at the so called, "Three-States Marker," where the borders of three states meet, west of Joplin, Missouri.

Entrance to the Downstream property is in Missouri. The parking lot is in Kansas. The front door to the casino is in Oklahoma. But no identity crisis here. From an aesthetic point of view, this casino rivals some of the best looking hot spots in Nevada or New Jersey.

The Downstream has 70,000 square feet of gambling space, over 2,000 slots and 45 table games.  A 255-room hotel will open shortly.  This place rates a 4 out of 4 aces.

This casino is owned by the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma. More information can be found here.

The travel website, GamblingResort.com, ever-growing in popularity, provides information about all the Indian casinos in Oklahoma and other states.  It is a great resource for those planning to visit a gambling destination here or anywhere else in the country.  One can find all sorts of useful stuff, including photos, casino statistics, map locators, addresses and phone numbers for every casino in the USA and beyond.

One can also book hotels at GamblingResort.com. Give it a try!