Largest Indian Casino In Northern California
Posted : admin On 4/12/2022Northern California is known for its year-round sunshine, but it’s also becoming famous for its fantastic casinos.
There are nearly 70 casinos in the GoldenState, as well as a few dozen tribal casinos. In NorthernCalifornia, you are only ever a short drive away from slots or tablegames.
Northern California’s Cache Creek Casino Resort, which has been shut down since Sept. 20 because of what it called a “systems infrastructure failure,” confirmed Wednesday that its computer. California, which had 68 tribal casinos in 2011, is the nation’s largest Indian gaming market, producing more than $6.91 billion in gaming revenue in 2011 — accounting for more than 25 percent. Rancheria is Spanish for small rural settlement, and in California, several Indian tribes live on Rancherias, which is a small reservation. This includes the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, who own and operate this casino resort, one of the largest in the Northern California, in spite of its remote location. Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort is now the largest employer in Amador County and has spent and donated tens of millions of dollars into the local economy. A new access road, Dalton Road, opened in 2006 reducing the casino’s impact on county roads.
You can also get your fill of the best poker action at some of the biggest card rooms in the world.
Slots and video poker are permitted at many casinos in North California. However, state laws are more restrictive on games, including roulette and craps. Some casinos have come up with ingenious ways of navigating the strict rules.
Let’s take a closer look at the best places to play North of SanFrancisco.
Sweepstakes casinos for real cash prizes in California
California casino laws in 2020
Casinos were legalized in the Golden State in 1992.
The California Gambling Control Commission and the California Department of Justice oversee casino gaming in the state.
Native American casinos have flourished in North California under the TribalGamingAct of 1988. Most Native American tribes in the state operate at least one casino.
These offer thousands of slots and table games. House-banked games, including blackjack, are legal at tribal casinos, too.
Vegas-style roulette and craps aren’t permitted at non-tribal casinos. However, you will find card games, e.g., blackjack, baccarat, three card poker and UltimateTexas Hold ’em.
You can play exciting card game variants at many Bay Area casinos that comply with state law. In Pure Blackjack, you must reach 21.5; not 21. You also compete against other players instead of the house. Each player pays a small fee to the house to play each hand.
Because roulette and craps are banned, some non-tribal casinos have come up with ways to adapt games to get around casino legislation.
Mystery Card Roulette is a cross between roulette and a wheel of fortune. You place wagers on a roulette-style table, but instead of numbered slots, cards are drawn at random on the wheel to determine the winner.
- Legal age for casino gambling: It is 21 years or older (only 18 years for some forms of gambling).
- Permitted games (tribal casinos): Games allowed include slots, poker, blackjack, table games, roulette and craps.
- Permitted games (nontribal casinos): Games not allowed include slots, poker, Mystery Card Roulette and player collection card games.
Tribal casinos in NorCal
There are around 60 tribal casinos spread across California. Many of the best ones are in SouthernCalifornia, but there is still a good selection in NorCal.
So far, tribal casinos have resisted attempts to legalize online casino gambling. However, that didn’t stop the IipayNation from trying to set up a regulated online bingo site in 2018. The Iipay fell foul of state gaming commissioners, however, and the site shut down.
Live poker rooms in Northern California
Poker rooms have been around in California since the 19th century. It’s no wonder that California is home some of the biggest and best card rooms on the planet.
In Northern California, you can play Texas Hold ’em or Omaha cash games and tournaments at a range of excellent poker rooms.
The Bay 101 in SanJose is a regular host stop on the World Poker Tour. The card room also runs daily big-money tournaments and cash games.
Best Northern California casinos — 2020
Casino Marysville
515 Fourth St., Marysville, CA 95901
www.casinomarysville.com
Games: Poker, Pure 21.5 Blackjack, No Bust 21st Blackjack, pai gow, three card poker and Low-Ball.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
The only casino in Marysville focuses on card games. Play hold ’em or Omaha in a spacious cardroom or try your hand at unique California casino variants like Pure 21.5 Blackjack.
Rolling Hills Casino
2655 Everett Freeman Way, Corning, CA 96021
https://rollinghillscasino.com
Games: Slots, blackjack, pai gow, three card poker and Ultimate Texas Hold ’em.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Rolling Hills houses a casino with more than 800 slot machines, as well as Vegas-style blackjack and pai gow. The resort features restaurants, a lodge and a golf course.
Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino
1545 State Hwy. 20, Nice, CA 95464
www.rrrc.com
Games: Slots, bingo, blackjack, three card poker, Face Up Pai Gow, EZ Baccarat, River Hold ’em and Blackjack Switch.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
You can play slots and table games at the biggest casino in Lake County. The 10,000-square-foot gaming floor offers hundreds of slot machines and a high-stakes gaming room.
Casino M8trix
1887 Matrix Blvd., San Jose, CA 95110
www.casinom8trix.com
Games: Poker, Pure 21.5 Blackjack, double hand poker, three card poker, Casino War, Pai Gow Tiles, Crazy 4 Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Baccarat Gold 1.0 and Double Hand Poker Bonus Gold 10.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Casino M8trix is a 24-hour gaming resort situated in the San Jose Bay Area. The eight-story casino offers a dedicated poker room, plus Californian table games like Pure 21.5 Blackjack.
Bay 101 Casino
1788 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95112
www.bay101.com
Games: Poker, Fortune Pai Gow, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Crazy 4 Poker and EZ Baccarat.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
The Bay 101 Casino is the biggest and best card room in NorCal. It is open 24 hours and is a host stop on the World Poker Tour. Legal table games include pai gow, Casino War and Crazy 4 Poker.
Napa Valley Casino
3466 Broadway St., American Canyon, CA 94503
https://napavalleycasino.com
Games: Blackjack, poker, pai gow, baccarat, three card poker and EZ Baccarat.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Napa Valley Casino is located in the heart of wine country. The casino features a fully operational card room offering Texas Hold ’em and Omaha. There is no player collection on some table games like 21st Century Blackjack and three card poker.
Graton Resort & Casino
288 Golf Course Drive W., Rohnert Park, CA 94928
www.gratonresortcasino.com
Games: Slots, poker, baccarat, blackjack, pai gow, three-card poker progressive, Four Card Poker Progressive, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em and Let It Ride Progressive.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Graton Resort & Casino boasts more progressive slots than any other casino in the Bay Area. You can also play Vegas-style table games like baccarat and pai gow. There is a full card room offering hold ’em and Omaha cash games and tournaments.
River Rock Casino
3250 CA-128, Geyserville, CA 95441
www.riverrockcasino.com
Games: Roulette, slots, video poker, three card poker, mini-baccarat, pai gow and blackjack.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians owns and operates the River Rock Casino, an award-winning establishment with more than 1,110 video slots and video poker machines, plus 18 tables featuring mini-baccarat and pai gow. Roulette is available and legal under tribal gaming laws.
Cache Creek Casino Resort
14455 CA-16, Brooks, CA 95606
www.cachecreek.com
Games: Slots, video poker, single-deck blackjack, double-deck blackjack, baccarat, pai gow, poker and bingo.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Cache Creek Casino Resort is a tribal gaming resort owned and run by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. It started as a bingo hall in the mid-80s but has expanded to include more than 2,700 slots, a card room and more than 120 table games.
Twin Pine Casino & Hotel
22223 CA-29, Middletown, CA 95461
www.twinpine.com
Games: Slots, progressive slots, double-deck Blackjack, Six Deck Shoe Blackjack, Three Card Super Shot Poker, War Blackjack and Poker Burnout.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California owns and operates the Twin Pine Casino & Hotel. As a tribal casino, Twin Pine can legally provide slots and table games. The establishment offers some of the best progressive slots in Northern California, including the record-breaking Megabucks game.
Coyote Valley
455 Coyote Valley Blvd., Redwood Valley, CA 95470
www.coyotevalleycasino.com
Games: Slots, poker, blackjack, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Lucky Lucky, fortune pai gow and single 21.
Legal age: 18 or 21 years.
Coyote Valley is a small casino situated five miles north of Ukiah on Highway 101. Single deck and multi-deck blackjack are available, and you can play new additions like single 21, fortune pai gow and Ultimate Texas Hold ’em. Coyote Valley offers a handful of classic slots machines, too.
Bear River Casino Resort
11 Bear Paws Way, Loleta, CA 95551
www.bearrivercasino.com
Games: Slots, progressive slots, double-deck blackjack, craps, Six Deck War Blackjack, Spanish 21, three card poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Bear River Craps, Mystery Card Roulette, pai gow and baccarat.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
The Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria runs Bear River Casino. As a tribal casino, Bear River can legally host table games and slots. You can try your hand at more than 365 classic slots and HD video slots. There is also a high-limit room featuring progressive slots with $100,000+ jackpots.
Blue Lake Casino & Hotel
777 Casino Way, Blue Lake, CA 95525
www.bluelakecasino.com
Games: Slots, progressive slots, poker, blackjack, Spanish 21, three card poker, pai gow, Premium Hold ’em, Mystery Card Roulette and Three Card Super Shot Poker.
Legal age: 18 or 21 years.
Blue Lake Casino & Hotel is located five minutes from Arcata and is owned and operated by the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe. The casino houses more than 600 slots and table games on its main floor. If you are 18 or older, you can play around 70 slots on the PlayStation 777 gaming floor.
Cher-Ae Heights Casino
27 Scenic Drive, Trinidad, CA 95570
www.cheraeheightscasino.com
Games: Slots, bingo, roulette and blackjack.
Legal age: 18 or 21 years.
The Cher-Ae Heights Casino overlooks the Pacific Ocean and features lots of gaming, dining and entertainment. You can play Vegas-style table games on the “only real roulette wheel on the North Coast.” In addition, you can try your luck on more than 300 slots or blackjack. The bingo hall is open those 18 years or older.
Elk Valley Casino
2500 Howland Hill Road, Crescent City, CA 95531
www.elkvalleycasino.com
Games: Poker, bingo, slots, pai gow and blackjack.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Elk Valley Casino is situated along the Northern California coast and is open to players 21 years or older only. The casino holds regular bingo sessions and poker tournaments, and you can play hundreds of video slots for 1 cent a spin.
Elk Valley offers exciting multiplayer slots, including the Jackpot Party Ultimate Party Spin slot series with 55-inch HD screens.
Lucky 7 Casino
350 North Indian Road, Smith River, CA 95567
https://lucky7casino.com
Games: Slots, poker, bingo and blackjack.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Lucky 7 is a tribal casino offering 24-hour table games, slots, and poker. It is one of California’s northernmost casinos and is operated by the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. You can play bingo, poker, slots or one of three blackjack games at $3-200 a hand.
Thunder Valley Casino & Resort
1200 Athens Ave., Lincoln, CA 95648
thundervalleyresort.com/home
Games: Poker, bingo, blackjack, Criss Cross Poker, Mystery Card Roulette, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Spanish 21, Zappit Blackjack, three card poker, four card poker, Blackjack Switch and Chase the Flush.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
Thunder Valley is one of NorCal’s biggest casino resorts. It features a hotel, spa and golf course, as well as a casino with progressive slots and a high-limit room. Thunder Valley is also a host stop on the World Poker Tour.
Gold Country Casino & Hotel
Olive Hwy., Oroville, CA 95965
www.goldcountrycasino.com
Games: Poker, bingo, slots, Spanish 21, Tre’ Card Stud, Double Deck Pitch, Face Up Pai Gow, Vegas Style 21 and Lucky Lucky Blackjack.
Legal age: At least 21 years.
You will find more than 900 slot machines as well as keno, table games and poker at the vast Gold Country Casino & Hotel. Traditional table games like Vegas Style 21 are permitted, and you can win big with the side bets in Lucky Lucky Blackjack.
The Jackson Rancheria Casino and Hotel is a large Indian casino located in the small city of Jackson, California, in Amandor County in the Sierra Nevada. Amandor County itself only has a population of about 38,000, so this is definitely rural country, and beautiful rural country at that.
Rancheria is Spanish for small rural settlement, and in California, several Indian tribes live on Rancherias, which is a small reservation. This includes the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, who own and operate this casino resort, one of the largest in the Northern California, in spite of its remote location.
To give you an idea of the size of this casino, it has 257,000 square feet of gaming space, and if it were located in Las Vegas it would be the biggest casino in the city by a large margin. Indian casinos are big business in California, and there are several this size or bigger.
Jackson, California, is famous for its being a former gold rush town, and although the California gold rush has long passed, it also is now known for the latest version of the gold rush, which is all the Californians rushing to Indian casinos to spend their gold. These casinos have provided a tremendous boost to the economy and well being of several Indian tribes, including the Miwuk Indians that run this one.
In spite of Jackson being in a pretty remote area of the state, it is less than an hour’s drive away from Sacramento, with a metro population of 2.4 million people, so there’s plenty of casino players for the casino resort to draw upon within very easy driving distance. This has propelled this resort casino to being one of the busiest and most successful in the state.
The Jackson Rancheria was opened in 1985 and it was one of the first Indian gaming facilities in the state. In 2012 the property saw an $80 million renovation where the hotel, casino, and its restaurants were all remodeled, and a VIP room was added to better take care of the high rollers that visit here.
It is one of the few casinos that does not serve alcohol on the casino floor, although you can purchase it elsewhere on the property. It is a non smoking only facility, and doesn’t allow pets either, other than service animals.
The Features of the Jackson Rancheria Casino and Resort
Driving up to the Jackson Rancheria, the exterior has a Frontier feel to it, although there’s nothing old fashioned at all about the interior and you know that you are in one of the most modern looking resort casinos in California immediately upon entering.
The hotel here is small by resort casino standards, with only 86 rooms, but the rooms here are certainly very nice, particularly for a small hotel.
This is a casino that gets almost all of its traffic from the locals making day trips but it’s a beautiful area and a fair number of people choose to make a vacation out of it. In addition to the hotel, there’s also a 100 space RV park with a free shuttle to the casino, and there’s more RV slots than hotel rooms, so it’s certainly a hot spot to visit for people who travel by RV.
The hotel is a AAA three diamond rated resort, and the RV park has been rated among the best around by Good Sam’s, so the accommodations here are of high quality.
The Rancheria just underwent even more remodeling, which was completed in June 2016, making the hotel even more appealing. In spite of this being a fine resort in its own right, the focus here is primarily on service, and the staff here prides themselves on standing out in that regard.
The rooms here are both spacious and beautifully decorated, and they deserve at least their three diamond rating, and perhaps should even get a four diamond award given the quality here. With very reasonable rates starting at $89 a night, for either a king or a double queen, these rooms go fast, and you need to look to book well in advance to ensure availability.
A junior suite will run you $179 a night, a very reasonable price for what is an outstanding hotel room. $299 a night gets you their ultimate in luxury, an Executive Suite.
There are four dining options on site, the Lone Wolf Restaurant and Lounge, the Rancheria Buffet, the Pacific Grill, and Margaret’s Café and Bakery. They also bring in regular entertainment here featuring a variety of acts.
The Grand Oak Ballroom with its 6,750 square feet is on hand to host your conventions and meetings as well as for special events put on by the resort.
The Casino at Jackson Rancheria
With 1,700 gaming machines and 36 table games spread over a quarter of a million square feet, players will never feel cramped and the ratio of gaming room to gaming provides for a very spacious gambling experience here.
They feature a good selection of state of the art slots, video poker, and video keno machines, from a penny a play to $100.
The table games area offers several card based casino games, including Blackjack, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Fortune Pai Gow, EZ Pai Gow, Mini Baccarat, and Ultimate Texas Holdem.
There’s also a 9 table poker room here, and like the main casino area, it is open 24 hours a day. Limit and no limit cash games are offered, as well as poker tournaments, including a $5000 guaranteed one every second Sunday. There’s plenty of comps and promotions here as well.
Indian Casinos In California
The High Limit room will take care of the needs of high rollers well, and there’s 8 high limit table games and dozens of high limit slots to go along with the even better service they provide here.
All players are eligible to join the Dreamcatcher’s Club, which has four different levels and rewards players for all of their play here.
List California Indian Casinos
The staff here is known to be particularly friendly and this is the cornerstone of this resort casino actually, and more than anything, what keeps players coming back. It’s a nice resort though overall and provides guests with some great accommodations in addition to some great casino action.