{"id":1590,"date":"2016-08-01T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T18:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beyondnumbers.lvablog.com\/?p=428"},"modified":"2016-08-01T12:04:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T19:04:12","slug":"that-place-is-a-dump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/that-place-is-a-dump\/","title":{"rendered":"“That Place is a Dump!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A friend recently asked me what casinos in the US would be worth visiting, given her desire to gamble and discover new places. I often get that question when people hear that I’m a card player. What’s the best casino you’ve been to? Where should I stay when I go to Vegas? Do you like Casino X?I usually tailor my answer to their frame of reference, instead of giving my own personal views. My teammates sometimes chuckle when I give my subjective views, because I’ll proclaim such absurdities as, “The Bellagio is a dump!” and “The Lady Luck [formerly downtown] is the best casino on earth!” An AP’s primary criterion is the attractiveness of the targets at the casino (including heat levels), so some of the carpet joints might fall into the “dump” category despite offering every conceivable, lavish amenity. Just so you know, an on-site Ferrari dealership is a necessity, not an amenity.<\/p>\n

While I love scouting casinos old and new, I do not particularly enjoy going to casinos with friends or a date, or for any social purpose. To me that would be like bringing a date to a dump, or a prison, or a hospital, or a warehouse, or an indoor marijuana farm. I view the casinos as vile dispensaries of misery (no, I did not have a traumatic childhood), despite the fancy shows and colorful carpets.<\/p>\n

However, there are exceptions. In my travels, I have been to a few casinos that do seem to offer sincere entertainment. Sincerity is the criterion that downgrades most of the Vegas properties. While the Vegas properties are fancy, with cool restaurants, shows, and facilities, they tend to come across as pretentious, gaudy, and fake. I think most voters would find an honest, unassuming beauty more attractive than a surgically-enhanced, “perfected” version. Or am I the only one who thinks the Wynn tries too hard to be cool. (Though the Wynn is cool!)<\/p>\n

So, without further ado, these are the joints that I’ve come out of thinking, “That place actually was<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0a cool place to hang out, if I were the type to hang out in casinos with degenerate friends who don’t need a profitable target.” These are my top four, though they’re not in rank order:<\/p>\n

1. Hard Rock, Hollywood FL. Pleasant smell, nice weather, a variety of outdoor eating options (including crepes!), poker, South Beach.<\/p>\n

2. Hard Rock, Tulsa. This place has multiple levels, bars with lots of TV screens, pretty people. It seems like a great place to watch a game, for those who watch games. There’s also a big video screen that serves as a by-request jukebox through a website. It’s awesome to see AC\/DC on a huge screen cranking Shoot to Thrill, in a casino.<\/p>\n

3. Hugo’s on the Hill, eastern Washington. This place is a cozy little card room, with bowling! And not just bowling\u2014cool neon glow with cozy sofas perfect for a young dating couple.<\/p>\n

4. Hippodrome, London. The high ceilings and architecture from the original theater are cool. The hookah lounge upstairs is cool. Lola’s Underground Casino is awesome, with the old turn-of-the-century vaudeville\/magic\/Houdini stuff going on, and period costumes. I like the poker area on the high balcony, with a good number of hanging TV screens.<\/p>\n

So apparently the key to having a cool casino is to name it with an H. Here are the honorable mentions (though if you ask me again in an hour, some of these could jump to the top list, and vice versa):<\/p>\n

A. Colony Club, London. Nice. Real nice. Heck, this place is so cool that I’d go there with friends just to have a drink without even gambling, except that I don’t go out with friends, don’t drink, and don’t go to casinos unless I’m gambling.<\/p>\n

B. THEhotel, Las Vegas. When it first opened, what is now The Delano\u00a0at Mandalay Bay was stylish, clean, and unnoticed. Nice rooms. You could have a delicious bowl of berries and carrot juice in The Cafe without having to wait in any line at all. Now that the place is more popular, it’s changed its name to the Delano, and it’s not as cool.<\/p>\n

C. Jumer’s Rock Island Casino (original riverboat), Illinois. The old riverboat had a Twain-era style, complete with red velvet, chandeliers, and the spooky nooks and crannies that you’d find on a boat. They still peeked manually and offered surrender, so the game rules reinforced the frozen-in-time vibe of the place.<\/p>\n

D. Station Casino, St. Louis\/Kansas City. Before they\u00a0got bought out by Ameristar, the Station Casinos did a great job with the train-station theme, a long floor with convenient balcony level and chandelier. The locals were truly excited about going out to “the boat” on a Friday or Saturday night. (Most locals still refer to their local casino as “the boat,” a throwback to the days when Midwest states legalized riverboat gambling and these giant complexes were technically on water.) The fountain at the St. Louis entrance was the coolest thing you’ve ever seen, until the concept got copied at various other properties. The BBQ is great in both cities.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend recently asked me what casinos in the US would be worth visiting, given her desire to gamble and discover new places. I often get that question when people hear that I’m a card player. What’s the best casino you’ve been to? Where should I stay when I go to Vegas? Do you like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2,3,1,15,398],"tags":[1018,240,39,1023,1019,480,1021,1022,93,1020],"yoast_head":"\n"That Place is a Dump!" - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/that-place-is-a-dump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""That Place is a Dump!" - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A friend recently asked me what casinos in the US would be worth visiting, given her desire to gamble and discover new places. 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