Short Summary: An overview of Nevada’s casino landscape, covering the state’s extensive array of gambling options, including Las Vegas and Reno’s world-famous establishments. It outlines key aspects such as casino types, games offered, state regulations, and the history of gambling in Nevada. The article also touches on the role of Native American casinos, online gambling considerations, and offers a directory of notable Nevada casinos.
Nevada is the pioneer for legalized gambling in the United States of America, and it shows, as it remains the #1 destination for gamblers based in the United States.
Of course, I put an emphasis on the legalized in legalized gambling, because Nevada was hardly the first place to be known for gambling in the country. In the frontier days, you could find unregulated card games going on just about everywhere, and we spoke about Deadwood, South Dakota, at-length, in that state’s page.
The beginning of legalized gambling in the United States (aside from perhaps some legal Bingo or Bean-O) would become official on March 19th, 1931, when then Governor of Nevada, Fred Balzar, would make a wide variety of games legal in the state.
As we see with other states who have legalized various forms of gambling, or expanded upon already legal ones, the notion that taking gambling out of the back alleys and hidden backrooms and putting it front-and-center might decrease gambling-related crime and would also be a substantial revenue driver for the state.
While other states have changed to allow gambling, one aspect of Nevada gambling has NOT changed—and that is the fact that the Silver State’s casinos are the lowest-taxed on gambling win (6.75%) in the entire country. Not only is this great for the businesses, but it also theoretically offers a competitive advantage in that Nevada’s casinos could offer higher RTP games and keep a more substantial net sum of money than states with lower RTP games who have to pay, sometimes as much as 50%, of all gambling wins to the state.
According to 500 Nations, there are only two Native American casinos in Nevada that are actually owned by Native American tribes within the state, but still, that means that Nevada is one jurisdiction in which legalized and regulated commercial casinos and Native American casinos exist simultaneously.
Given all of the casinos, you generally won’t see much Charitable Gambling taking place in the State of Nevada, though it is legal.
First of all, Nevada allows for Charitable Lotteries and even has an option for online sales for qualifying tax-exempt entities. This is particularly interesting because it seems that raffles are excluded and the State of Nevada does not itself have its own lottery. While there is no tax collected (other than from winners of $600, or more) on Charitable Lottery events, the charity must pay a $25 filing fee when they apply to host an event within the state. That’s not too bad.
Charitable Gambling events are also permitted within the states with the same fee structure. These games are restricted to Bingo, Roulette, not being permitted. These events are required to be free to enter, which means that no gate can be charged at the door. Unlike purchasing a Charitable Lottery Ticket, which requires only that the buyer be 18+, one must be 21+ in order to participate in Charitable Gambling events.
Of course, many casinos throughout the State of Nevada also offer Bingo, so for that reason, Charitable Bingo (and other game) events tend to be few and far between.
Nevada has long been known for sports betting and was the only state to accept sports bets even prior to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (Michigan had the option to effectuate sports betting within a year of the law ing, but did not decide to do so at that time. A few states were given the option of having a, “Sports Lottery,” which is really just parlay betting, but most of them chose not to do that.
After several decades of having no rivals (other than offshore or illegal bookmakers), PASPA was finally repealed by the Supreme Court of the United States as regulated online casinos. There are some offshore sports books that also operate within the United States, and with at least a little less concern than they may have once had, since sports betting is no longer illegal at the Federal level.
Despite being the pioneer for legalized gambling, Nevada is actually one of only a few states not to have its own State Lottery. This actually comes as a bit of a surprise as Nevadans can sometimes be found buying Powerball and Mega Millions tickets in bordering states when the jackpots get really high. I like to think of it as the State of Nevada being embarrassed to offer a game with such poor RTP, but more likely, they know that the casinos would be against it.
While horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering are legal in the State of Nevada, and many casinos offer simulcast, Nevada currently has no full-time active horse racing locations and is not expected to do so anytime in the future. On occasion, there will be live horse racing events at various fairgrounds, and notably, in Elko, but these are few and far between.
Greyhound racing is illegal in the State of Nevada.
Online Casinos in Nevada
Online Gambling is partially legalized and regulated in the State of Nevada. Just recently, Nevada has legalized and regulated online sports betting, which they actually did after several states had already done it. Additionally, online poker has been legal in the state for a number of years, but online casino games (slots/tables) are not.
However, there are many offshore online casinos that are more than happy to offer their services to residents of the State of Nevada, and you will see a few of our top picks appear below:
Nevada was once a dusty state with lots of land and not much promise, but all that started to change during the first half of the 20th century. The momentum increased even more following World War II, and it wasn’t long before Las Vegas was positioned as the leading destination for gamblers on the planet. While it’s global appeal may have slipped somewhat with the rise of Macau, it remains the premier destination for players in the United States.
Normally, we would put these in alphabetical order, but given how many casinos there are in the state, we’re just going to go ahead and mostly list them by location. Please send a message to [email protected] if you know of any that are missing, which is quite possible.
Las Vegas Strip
The heart of Sin City is Las Vegas Boulevard, which is commonly known as the Vegas Strip. This is where some of the most famous casinos in the world are located, and an obscene amount of money moves in and out of these properties on a daily basis.
If you’re planning a trip to Vegas, you owe it to yourself to check out this neon shrine to casino games.
Due to the number of casinos in Nevada, we have split up this page into several smaller ones to make navigation easier and load times quicker, you can click below to our reviews of each of the casinos:
Of course, the Las Vegas Strip (overall) isn’t the best option for gambling anymore, assuming that it ever was. They certainly have plenty of stuff to do, but the slot returns are some of the worst that you will find, the video poker returns to player are generally not going to be as strong as you will find elsewhere—particularly not for lower denomination players and table game minimums are generally going to be really high compared to elsewhere in the city.
At one point, even the monstrosity known as 6:5 Blackjack was put in place for properties that wanted to increase the House Edge, but still wanted to be able to offer $10, and even sometimes $5, tables. Nowadays, at least on the Las Vegas Strip, even the horrendous 6:5 Blackjack Tables have $15 minimums and Triple Zero Roulette is also now a thing.
That’s not to say there isn’t anything positive about the Las Vegas Strip. The general area has some of the finest dining and best shopping in the entire world all packed into one relatively small place. Beyond that, they also have some of the best shows and other things to see in the entire world.
The properties were also not cheap to build, so many of those are an aesthetic marvel in and of themselves. Those of you who are in my income category know the phrase, “It’s free to look,” and you could easily spend a day or two just going from place to place on the Las Vegas Strip and marveling at the architecture, art, aesthetics and exterior areas (such as pools and gardens) right in the middle of the Nevada Desert! Pretty incredible!
But, if you’re looking for the best gambling options and places likely to have better odds on table games, paytables on Video Poker and slot returns, then you’re going to want to check out some of our other Las Vegas area and statewide Nevada listings.
DownTown Las Vegas
The Fremont Street Experience is not itself a casino, but it represents a portion of Fremont Street that exists under a huge canopy lightshow and has various attractions, outdoor drink vendors (some casinos also have bars outside) and free concerts on The D side almost every night, and sometimes, on both sides of the FSE.
The reason that we bring this up is that many Vegas visitors will want to stay such that they can exist their hotel rooms, head down the elevator and walk out the front doors to the Fremont Street Experience, so we will make it a point to mention those casinos so located in the first paragraph of the listing, if applicable.
Overall, Downtown does not represent the gambling value that it used to have when it comes to Video Poker paytables throughout its casinos. There are still a few standouts in this regard, such as Four Queens, The Plaza and El Cortez. In addition, there are also several good paytables to be found elsewhere, just know that they are getting harder to find than they once were…there certainly aren’t any 101.6% machines for nickels anymore!
In of Table Games operations, you’ll want to avoid the few 6:5 Blackjack Tables in the Downtown area and choose one of the casinos with 10x Odds if you like to load up on Odds at the Craps Table, but Downtown is still an overall great competitor when it comes to Table Games with most tables in the area offering decent rules. Many of the Downtown casinos will also have lower table minimums than you will find anywhere else, unless you want to go to Boulder Strip or away from tourist areas altogether.
The Fremont Street Experience light show and concerts are still tremendous fun and should be a serious consideration when looking at where you want to stay Downtown. If you want to avoid the noise and traffic, then El Cortez will be your best bet, but if you want to be right in the mix, then The D, Golden Gate, Binion’s and Four Queens are going to be your best values. We recommend The D if the total rate per night is anywhere close (no more than $10-$15 extra, in total) compared to the others. That failing, we would recommend Binion’s or Four Queens as they have no Resort Fees. There are cheap rooms at Golden Gate, and Circa is right across the way, but we don’t see that there is much else there that should be a draw and it is home to no restaurants at this time.
What goes without saying is that Downtown remains a better destination for value dining and gambling than the Las Vegas Strip. However, where we would have once encouraged weekday visitors to go straight Downtown, we would now recommend checking out some of the lower-priced Strip casinos for weekday rates. If you’re visiting from out of state or out of the country, then we think you should want to split your stay to see Downtown AND the Las Vegas Strip, though you should probably do most of your playing Downtown.
Reno
Reno likes to call itself the, “Biggest Little City in the World,” and is located in Northwest Nevada, roughly 20 miles from Lake Tahoe and is on the Nevada-California border.
The name also might not be that fitting as, with a population of 264,165, as of the 2020 United States Census, it’s a heck of a stretch to call this a, “Little City,” at all. Although, I will it that, “The Biggest Mid-Size City in the World,” wouldn’t quite have the same shine to it.
Believe it or not, Reno has just over 40% of the population that Las Vegas does, so that’s further evidence that it can no longer be considered a small city. The city is home to several major annual events, which we will detail in the following paragraph, draws in millions of visitors annually from elsewhere in Nevada (and nearby states) and, in its own right, is seen as a tourist destination unto itself. Perhaps not to the extent that Las Vegas is, obviously, but many of our readers might consider a trip to Reno in the hopes of finding better values for gambling and overnight accommodations than places such as the Las Vegas Strip.
The question is: Are the casinos in Reno better in value? For the answer to that, we can only recommend that you continue reading on to see what they have to offer!
The one thing that we can say is that your flights are generally going to cost more to get to Reno than they will to Las Vegas, so that’s one consideration that you should make. It might also depend on where you are coming from as, airports with a direct line that goes to Reno (if you live near any) might have cheaper tickets than some others.
There’s obviously not the time or space here to analyze every single airline and every single city, so I will use my city as an example. I live in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and will look At Priceline (as well as a few individual sites, such as Spirit Airlines) and will choose…let’s go with days on or around December 10th and coming back the following week, to compare prices:
(To Note: I had done this in August, but am editing it in October, 2021, so decided to do it again.)
Going with flexible dates to Las Vegas, here are my results:
Spirit Airlines: $183
Alaska Airlines: $222
American Airlines: $230
United Airlines: $241
Delta Airlines: $251
JetBlue: $276
I sorted the prices from low-to-high and took the cheapest flight for each airline for this example. Personally, I’m pretty flexible about what time I leave and return, so I really don’t care that much about what time the flight is. I’ll plan my hotel and trip schedule around my flight.
With that, let’s do the same search, but this time we will see what some of these airlines (or others listed, perhaps) charge to get you from Pittsburgh to Reno:
Delta Airlines: $323
United Airlines: $407
American Airlines: $407
Alaska Airlines: $407
As you can see, if I take the cheapest round-trip to Vegas compared to Reno, then I will save $140 by going to Vegas. Of course, if you are going to be renting a car during your trip anyway, then you might want to see what the differences are in those costs and might even consider driving from Las Vegas to Reno…but we should let you know that you are going to be looking at empty desert as far as the eye can see the better part of the way.
I should also mention that the price gap between the two destinations has often been larger than this anytime that I have looked. Either way, we know that many of our readers will want to plan as economical a trip as can be reasonably had, so with that, we would encourage you to take the entire fixed costs (flight, rooms, rental car—if you are renting a car) into consideration when you make your travel decisions.
Believe it or not, a man named Bill Graham, who then-owned the Bank Club Casino in Reno is largely responsible for what the entire State of Nevada (including Las Vegas) has become today. He saw way ahead of time that legalized (and potentially regulated) gambling could become massively popular and was instrumental in the push for the State of Nevada to legalize gambling. At this time, horse racing was a somewhat popular form of betting that was legal in a few states, but no other state had legalized casinos. Even places such as Deadwood, South Dakota, which became famous for gambling in bars and taverns in the Frontier Days, would not actually legalize commercial gambling until 1988!
The best part is that not only did the idea work, but as the years went on, places such as Las Vegas and Reno would become insanely popular tourist destinations, such that it would be only a couple decades until new casino properties would pop up as full-scale resort locations that offered a wide range of amenities and services.
While most states have one form of casino gambling or another now, though sometimes limited, it was not always that way. The first casino to open outside of New Jersey, in 1978. With that, The State of Nevada not only had multiple casino towns; they essentially had a monopoly on all things gambling for more than 45 years!
It should also be mentioned that, when we talk about the majority of states having casinos, we are also including Native American casinos—which usually operate by way of a compact with the state—in that statement. At this time, probably fewer than the majority of states have legalized Commercial Casinos (with all types of gambling, rather than just some table games or machines only) that have all of their operations directly regulated by the state in which they are located.
So, how successful was the Bank Club Casino in Reno’s early days? Believe it or not, at one time, it was the largest casino in the entire world! Where now people would automatically assume Las Vegas or Macau (and, would still be wrong, as it actually belongs to a Native American Casino named WinStar World Casino and Resort, in Oklahoma, of all places) to have the biggest casino in the world…nope, at one time, it was in Reno.
That almost makes a person wonder how close Reno might have come to being what Las Vegas would eventually evolve into! Could you imagine if we were looking at all of the casinos in Nevada and considered Las Vegas NOT the primary destination?
Believe it or not, that statement was actually true until around 1960. It was during the 1950’s that serious money would start getting put into new Las Vegas Casinos and what would become the Las Vegas Strip truly began to materialize. Additionally, where Reno had mostly been focused on gambling offerings, Las Vegas was oriented with major musical performances and full scale resort properties that offered guests plenty to do.
Beyond that, despite its heat, Las Vegas was a bit better located and benefitted largely to its presence being closer to the ever-expanding Los Angeles. For that reason, and due to how novel the concept of casinos was at the time, it would not be unusual to see major Hollywood stars hanging out in Las Vegas for a weekend when they were not working on their projects. With Hollywood guests also comes money and spending begets spending on facilities so that you can attract the bigger money to your property.
Reno would eventually see serious competition from bordering California as of the 1980’s. This was as a result of the Bingo, and occasionally, traditional tribal gambling games for small amounts.
Anyway, California would enter into Gaming Compacts with many of its own Tribes, which would enable them to run as a direct rival to Reno, and to a much lesser extent, Las Vegas. It was unfortunate for Reno, in particular, as a huge percentage of their annual tourism came directly from California.
In the late-1990’s, a Referendum would be ed in the State of California that would enable the California Gaming Commission to regulate the state’s card rooms, which of course, meant more competition for Reno. To a lesser extent, certain gambling offerings that would later be legalized in states such as Montana would also cut into Reno’s visitation a little bit.
However, the City of Reno still has a wide variety of casinos and many of them will be just as impressive to you as those in Las Vegas, and if you’ve never been to Las Vegas, then you wouldn’t really know the difference anyway. Despite the competition in nearby states, the population of Reno continues to grow year after year and gambling/hospitality is far from the only industry in the city. Also, some people are residents of Reno in name only, as this and Lake Tahoe are often considered havens from California’ sizable state income tax.
One thing that you will see in Winter during the season that you will almost never see in Las Vegas is snow! Reno is considered a moderate semi-arid city which means that you will see very little in annual rainfall (it actually snows more inches than rains in an average year), but the temperature range across the year is similar to many cities in the United States. For example, the average High and Low in February is 51 degrees (Fahrenheit) and 26 degrees, respectively. You can compare this to an average high of 66 and low of 33 in Las Vegas.
The Summer months are also far less brutal in Reno where you can compare highs and lows of 93 and 55, respectively, in July, to a blistering 107 (this is a DAILY AVERAGE!!!) and 67 in Las Vegas.
For that reason, Reno might also be a good destination for travelers who may actually wish to spend some time outdoors during the Summer months. That’s especially true if you come from a cold weather area already, as I do, let’s look at Pittsburgh averages:
February: High-38 Low—23
July: High–83 Low—64
For someone like me, especially hot Summer days in Reno are a lot more than I am used to, and their Winters are also generally warmer than I have become accustomed to…but spending more than twenty minutes outside in Las Vegas, between May and September and during daylight hours, is enough to nearly kill someone like me. It’s terrible!
So, if you don’t live in the desert already, or a country known for a particularly hot climate, then you will find that Reno is going to be more similar to what you are used to for Summers than Las Vegas is.
Reno is also the third-largest city in the State of Nevada, with Henderson being the second-largest and Las Vegas, obviously, being #1. Like we said above, it’s really tough to even call them a little city anymore!
Reno is also the unofficial capital of The United States of America for bowling! Home to the National Bowling Stadium, Reno plays host to the United States Bowling Congress Bowling Championships every three years! They are also home to the Annual National Championship Air Races, an accredited museum and an auto museum with more than 200 classic cars, so there are plenty of things to see and do in the city besides the casinos.
But, let’s be honest, people are mostly going for the casinos.
Reno has plenty to offer in that regard as they basically have an assortment of casinos that are comparable to Las Vegas, except for the fact that there are not as many of them.
Some of the resort casino properties in Reno are high ended and offer a wide assortment of fine dining restaurants as well as spa and salon service that would rival most similar casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.
Some of the destinations in Reno are more geared towards family travelers, in fact, Reno is home to a Circus Circus location (not owned by the same entity as the one in Las Vegas, but used to be) that is very similar to the one on the Las Vegas Strip. Mostly, they are known for having a Carnival Midway and sizable arcade as well as a variety of cheap eats. For family travelers looking to stay in Reno and who are more concerned with their trip’s budget, this will be one of the places that they’ll want to take a close look at.
Where Las Vegas has its own casinos that are known as spots for locals, Reno does the same thing. A few of these are right in the concentration of casinos Downtown, so if you want to stop in and chat up a local to hear about what living in Reno is like, then we will tell you all about a few places to do that.
Reno will also appeal to hardcore Video Poker players, as many of the casinos in the City features paytables of 99%, or more, as well as some 100%+ paytables sprinkled in at a few places. If you’re touring around Northwest Nevada and want to know where to find video poker offerings to suit you, then you should check out some of these casinos that we discuss.
With that, the time has come to talk more in-depth about some of them, so let’s get to it:
If Reno is something of a Las Vegas lite, then Sparks is kind of a Reno Lite with the broader area often referred to as, “Reno-Sparks.” While that may be true, Sparks is, in fact, it’s own city and has a population that runs north of 100,000 residents.
Its own city with its own casinos, a few of them pretty large.
It sucks that Eastside Cannery is temporarily (perhaps permanently) gone, and even if it comes back, it sucks that it’s no longer owned by Cannery Casino Resorts as the competition between them and neighboring Sam’s Town made both properties better. As you may have read in our listings, even some of the Boulder Strip Station Casino properties decided they needed to step their games up when Eastside came to town.
Another thing that we want to point out is that many casinos on the Boulder Strip are owned by Station Casinos, which have had a wide variety of disputes with their employees regarding compensation and benefits. Some of you might want to look into that before making your decision on where to stay.
We should also mention that Roadhouse Casino was a long-time favorite amongst locals on Boulder Highway, and at one time, operated with an unrestricted gambling license. Planning to renovate and reopen, they were blocked from doing so when the giant casino corporation, Station Casinos, used the court system to hold up the process because they didn’t want the competition. Again, you can do more research on that for yourself and decide whether or not a Stations property is where you want to take your money. If you do, at least stick to the 100%+ video poker and learn the proper strategy.
Laughlin
For those of you who haven’t been, despite its population of more than 7,000 residents, Laughlin, Nevada is an unincorporated community and Resort Town about an hour and a half Southwest of Las Vegas. There’s really not much of anything between the two destinations, except a whole lot of desert as well as a few gas stations with small casinos in them.
Laughlin attracts a wide variety of visitors from that general area and makes up part of the border between Arizona and Laughlin’s casinos do a lot to attract individuals from those states who want a Vegas-Casino type of experience without actually having to go to Las Vegas.
Located directly on the Colorado River (which actually runs directly behind a few of the casino properties, such as the Colorado Belle), the town of Laughlin also attracts people who want to tour around that general area and do some outdoor activities, such as taking casual river ferries here and there for a tour of the area, or something a bit more exciting on the water, such as kayaking.
The biggest of Laughlin’s casinos are mostly within a small concentrated area near the river. Laughlin is also known for its economical pricing (especially during off seasons) and strong promotions to attract even some visitors who sometimes fly into Vegas, rent a car, and head down to Laughlin for all, or part, of their trip.
The town itself is mostly quiet, at least, compared to the Las Vegas Strip or Downtown Las Vegas, but there is plenty to do inside of the casinos and many of them would rival some Downtown and Vegas Strip properties in of gambling offerings and amenities.
After reading our listings, we think it’s possible that, if you intend to visit Las Vegas for a week or more, that you might cut out a couple of days to stay in Laughlin, instead. Also, if you are paying cash for your hotel rooms and have the misfortune to be going to Vegas during a high-traffic special events weekend, then you might go to Laughlin for overnight accommodations on the weekend as the prices will often be far more reasonable.
Of course, you’ll want to either have friends in the area or be planning to rent a car anyway if you want to visit Laughlin. While it’s a relatively easy drive, it will usually take more than an hour to get there, there’s little or nothing in the way of direct public transportation and we would expect that a Lyft or an Uber could get really pricey, considering the distance.
With that, let’s list the casinos that you can expect to find if you end up visiting the town of Laughlin:
West Wendover is located in Elko County, Nevada, but is being listed separately as it has become something of a miniature gambling mecca of its own. West Wendover, Nevada, is contiguous with Wendover, Utah and much of the casino (and cannabis) business that comes to town comes by way of Utah.
In fact, so much of West Wendover’s business comes from Utah that the small city was moved out of the Pacific Time Zone and into the Mountain Time Zone, which means that they share a time that is one hour different from the rest of the State of Nevada, at least, legally speaking. Unofficially, a few other areas on the West side of the state also go by Mountain time, such as Jackpot, Nevada.
At one time, there was a push to annex Wendover (Utah) into Nevada on the grounds that both are the same community separated only by the fact that they are actually in different states. That effort would eventually stall and was not picked back up. Either way, Wendover is the nearest getaway for many Utahns (?) looking to have a little fun.
Elko County is a place that many visitors to Nevada (by car) have probably found themselves, though possibly without realizing it. Located in the Northeast corner of Nevada, it’s actually the fourth-largest county (by land area) in the continental United States.
When it comes to the population of Elko County, to say the least…it is not the largest. The population of the entire county is right around 50,000 inhabitants, give or take a few thousand.
The County seat and population center of Elko County is Elko itself, but all of the Elko County casinos (with exception to West Wendover) will be listed on this page. West Wendover has a high enough concentration of casinos to warrant its own listing.
The next area we’re going to cover is the South Lake Tahoe casino district, which relates to Lake Tahoe, a large freshwater lake that lives between the Nevada and California state line. The Lake Tahoe area is a popular tourist destination not for its casinos (though some come to town for those), but mostly for the wide variety of outdoor activities there are to do.
The Lake Tahoe area is also a, “Tax Shelter,” for many individuals who would otherwise be residents of California, but they don’t want to pay the Golden Bear’s State’s individual income tax…I can’t say I blame them. In addition to the outdoor activities associated with the lake, this area is also a popular destination for skiers.
The Lake Tahoe communities with the largest populations are all on the California side, but many of those folks (and others from nearby non-Tahoe towns) will come to this casino district to gamble. As you will see, many of the casinos are in a place called, “Stateline.”
To give you an idea, Stateline is on the Western border of the State of Nevada and is right about where the Western boundary cuts from a straight line to progressing along a sharp angle—just look at a map of Nevada and you’ll see what I mean. Also, Stateline is about an hour (driving) due South of Reno, Nevada, part of which is close to the California/Nevada line.
The remaining casinos in Clark County, which is the home of Las Vegas, here we cover the casinos that don’t exactly fit (geographically) into our other different sections.
Obviously, it would be sacrilege for the capital of the state that is the capital of gambling in the United States (Nevada) not to have any casinos of its own, so with that, we discuss the casinos in Carson Valley, which includes state capital, Carson City.
Unlike some other state capitals, Carson City is far from being the largest city in the state, in fact, it ranks sixth in population in Nevada. It also differs from many other state capitals in that, rather than being in the center of the state, Carson City is on the West Side of the state just north of where the state angles on the Western border.
Another interesting thing about Carson City is the fact that most state capitals are also the County Seat for whatever county they happen to be in, but Carson City is actually independent of any counties and governs itself, in that regard.
It’s a little over thirty miles due south of the much larger Reno, Nevada.
With that, let’s take a look at some of the casinos in this area of the state:
The next area we will touch on is Fallon/Williams Ave., Nevada. For those who don’t know, Fallon is the county seat of Churchill County, Nevada and is a little more than sixty miles almost due east of Reno. The population, according to the 2020 census, is 8,871, which (believe it or not) makes it the 11th most populated city in Nevada.
That’s kind of what we were touching on with the main Nevada page. If you didn’t have the gambling, which led to the gambling resorts, Nevada would basically just be Utah. Actually, Utah had a draw in that it is the epicenter for the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, which represents more than half of the state’s population…without the gambling, Nevada wouldn’t have a draw.
It also makes one wonder what would have happened to the nationwide gambling scene without Nevada? Chances are, other than maybe some states that permit small legal card rooms, none of it happens. No Atlantic City, no Native American Casinos…just some horse and greyhound racing until those things inevitably disappear.
Some of our readers might find themselves in Fallon one day, though most won’t. They actually have some stuff that brings visitors to town, such as a dirt racing track (auto) as well as a paved NHRA sanctioned track—only one in Northern Nevada. They’re home to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Sand Mountain Recreation Area—which is a popular place for dune buggy racing, something I’ve kind of always wanted to try…if you want to see what a historic Pony Express location might have looked like, that’s also at the Sand Mountain Recreation Area.
With that, Fallon is a fun little place that has some pretty cool stuff to check out, so some of our readers may find themselves there. Of course, if you’re in Nevada, then you’re not really a fun place unless you have casinos, and Fallon has a few.
Washoe County is home to cities such as Reno and Sparks, but not all of the casinos in this general area are exactly in Reno or Sparks, so this page is here to cover the casinos that don’t really fall into those two towns.
Washoe County is one of the oldest, and second most-populated, of Nevada’s counties, which stands to reason as it is home to Reno, Nevada’s second-largest metropolitan area. Even outside of Reno, there are a great number of places on the National of Historic Places, so there’s a more than fair chance that some of you history buffs will find yourself in or around some of the towns listed on this page.
With that, let’s get into the other casinos that can be found in Washoe County:
The city of Mesquite, Nevada is located in Clark County (same as Las Vegas) but has enough going on to warrant its own listings page as its casinos attract many locals from the city of almost 18,500 as well as residents of Arizona who make a quick trip across the border to play in Mesquite’s casinos.
Mesquite draws visitors to the area for more than just its casinos, though. Some people like to gamble with their lives as well as their money, so they might come to Mesquite for the aviation events or for skydiving. Mesquite is also a popular golf spot in the desert, especially during the more temperate months, and features nine golf courses in the general area.
Mesquite is located in the Northeast corner of Clark County along the Arizona border. Many Vegas visitors probably think of the County as being Las Vegas, Paradise and that’s about it…but it’s actually a geographically sprawling county, with Mesquite, NV being as much as an hour and a half drive from the Las Vegas Strip.
For reference, the driving distance from Mesquite to the Mandalay Bay on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip proper is about 87.5 miles…the entire distance across for the entire State of Vermont is 89 miles, so suffice it to say that Clark County covers some serious space.
Mesquite also has its own fully contained economy that is mostly built around its own casino industry, so they don’t really directly rely on the Las Vegas area for very much. For many residents of Mesquite, doing a weekend staycation in Las Vegas is basically just as much a novelty for them as it would be for any of our readers.
The time has come to turn our attention to the casinos everywhere else in Nevada. This, “Everywhere else,” page will mostly consist of casinos that do not fit into the other sections of the state, really, and do not really belong to a concentration of casinos.
In the listings below, we may or may not say a few quick words about the towns the casinos can be found in if there is anything particularly notable about them. With that, the time has come to discuss Nevada’s other casinos:
Commercial casinos have a stranglehold on the industry within Nevada, but that hasn’t stopped a few Indian tribes from getting in on the action. These facilities are located on tribal lands and are the result of approval from the U.S. government and a compact with the state.
If you want to experience an Indian casino while you’re in Nevada, here are your current options:
Live greyhound racing doesn’t exist in the state of Nevada, but patient fans can view quarter horse and thoroughbred racing at various times of the year. It’s not a huge industry within the state, but it does exist. The following are the venues most associated with the “sport of kings”:
Winnemucca Convention and Visitors Authority – In addition to offering gaming facilities, the Nevada town of Winnemucca holds horse and mule races as part of the Humboldt County Fair.
Elko County Fair – In operation for over 95 years, this fair in Elko, Nevada offers a number of diversions in August and September including thoroughbred racing.
White Pine Horse Races – These races in Ely, Nevada first took place in 1934, and they’ve been going strong ever since. While the events only take place a few days a year, fans can see both quarter horse and thoroughbred racing.
If you’d rather sit in an air-conditioned room and watch horseracing on a massive high-definition television, then you may want to check out the wide array of off-track betting facilities in Nevada. All of the OTB locations are in casinos, and most feature state-of-the-art sound and images. At last count, there were just over 70 such venues in Nevada.
The Lottery in Nevada
When the state constitution of Nevada was created in 1864, most forms of gambling were made illegal. That all changed in 1931 when the policy was reversed and various types of gambling were allowed. One exception, however, was the lottery.
Despite the wide range of casino games being allowed, the state lottery has never been permitted in Nevada. Why? Well, the answer should be obvious. The casinos have a tremendous amount of pull within the state, and they view any sort of lottery as direct competition. That’s why lottery proposals have been shot down dozens of times over the decades, despite the additional money that it would bring to the state.
In a way, however, the state does have a lottery in the form of the Megabucks slot machines. It’s a progressive network that stretches across various Nevada casinos, and a small portion of each dollar wagered goes into the jackpot with a $10 million minimum. In fact, the largest slot jackpot ever won in the state came from one of these machines, a $39.7 million payday in 2003.
Owning a Slot Machine in Nevada
Nevada has no restrictions on slot machine ownership, which means your collection can consist of antique one-armed bandits or games right off the casino floor. The only limitation is that such devices are for personal use only, so keep this in mind before you start inviting the neighbors over to turn a profit.
Sports Betting in Nevada
Nevada is one of the few U.S. states that can legally offer sports betting, and they’re the only one that pursues this right with such relish. Every major casino in Las Vegas features a sportsbook, and you can also get online and place bets once you’re within the boundaries of the state. Massive banks of high-definition screens offer live broadcasts of sporting events around the globe, and odds are constantly being tabulated and updated.
Nevada may not offer a state lottery or greyhound racing, but otherwise, it’s a paradise for gamblers. Las Vegas is especially notable, as the city seems to have something going on every minute of the day. There’s also a mystique that’s become associated with Vegas, as people go there believing that anything is possible (sometimes getting themselves in trouble in the process). If Macau is too far away for your budget, this is definitely a must-see locale.
After several decades of having no rivals (other than offshore or illegal bookmakers), PASPA was finally repealed by the Supreme Court of the United States as 
The heart of Sin City is Las Vegas Boulevard, which is commonly known as the Vegas Strip. This is where some of the most famous casinos in the world are located, and an obscene amount of money moves in and out of these properties on a daily basis.
Commercial casinos have a stranglehold on the industry within Nevada, but that hasn’t stopped a few Indian tribes from getting in on the action. These facilities are located on tribal lands and are the result of approval from the U.S. government and a compact with the state.
When the state constitution of Nevada was created in 1864, most forms of gambling were made illegal. That all changed in 1931 when the policy was reversed and various types of gambling were allowed. One exception, however, was the lottery.
Nevada is one of the few U.S. states that can legally offer sports betting, and they’re the only one that pursues this right with such relish. Every major casino in Las Vegas features a sportsbook, and you can also get online and place bets once you’re within the boundaries of the state. Massive banks of high-definition screens offer live broadcasts of sporting events around the globe, and odds are constantly being tabulated and updated.
