6 Casino Resorts Outside of Las Vegas

AARP

28 August 2023

Feeling lucky? The odds are in your favor if you’re looking for a fun place to stay and play for your next vacation.

According to statistics from the research firm IBISWorld, 377 casino hotels are currently operating in the United States, and the number of casino hotel businesses has grown 6.3 percent per year since 2018. In addition, American Gaming Association (AGA) research reports that 43 percent of American adults plan to visit a casino over the next year.

Beyond the go-to destinations of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, New Jersey, you’ll find casino resorts across the country in such diverse spots as Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico and Connecticut.

The expanded casino experience today aims to bring world-class entertainment and amenities to seasoned gamblers as well as to travelers who prefer not to lose a single token to a slot machine.

“Gaming offerings are still central to the experience at integrated resorts around the world, complemented by high-end retail, extraordinary culinary options, theaters and nightclubs, spas, pools and a lot more,” said Casey Clark, senior vice president of the AGA.

Ready to roll the dice on your next vacation with a stay at a casino resort? The following resorts offer a broad range of exciting options, and all have Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible guestrooms (make sure to reserve in advance). Here’s where to go and what to do when you’re in town.

1. Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino, Mescalero, New Mexico

The Mescalero Apache Tribe owns and operates this sprawling casino resort in New Mexico’s Southern Rocky Mountains where you can hit the spa and tables as easily as the golf course at the resort’s championship course.

With 273 rooms, many of which overlook Mescalero Lake at Inn of the Mountain Gods’ doorstep, the hotel has an indoor swimming pool, six sit-down restaurants and lake activities such as kayaking and fishing during the warmer months. Room rates start at $119 per night.

Around town: In the winter, hotel shuttles travel to the state’s southernmost ski resort, Ski Apache (also owned by Mescalero Apache Tribe), and make it easy to hit the slopes once the snow starts falling.

2. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Tampa, Florida

Owned and operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the 800-room Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa is one of the largest casinos in terms of gaming floor space in the U.S. as well as a hot spot for locals living in Tampa, who come for the fabulous restaurants and nonstop entertainment on tap.

Cool off in the adults-only pool or the family pool for fun in the Florida sun. For dinner, book a table overlooking the pool and waterfalls at Council Oak Steaks & Seafood, where USDA prime cuts are the star and there’s a dry-aging room with pink Himalayan salt walls. Rates start at around $287.

Around town: The resort is about 7 miles from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and less than an hour from popular Gulf Coast beaches such as Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach for when you’re ready to explore outside the resort.

3. Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi

About 90 miles east of New Orleans along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, this 32-story resort that locals simply call “the Beau” has more than 1,600 recently refreshed guest rooms (including accessible rooms with roll-in showers or bathtubs with accessibility bars). The vibe is Vegas-meets-the-South. So much so that the Beau is called “the Bellagio of the South.”

As you might expect from one of Mississippi’s tallest buildings, the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino has plenty of fun on tap within its walls. At the hotel’s theater on any given night you might find acts such as Dancing With the Stars, Blue Man Group or a fashion show taking the stage.

There are 10 restaurants on-site, four bars and lounges, a Topgolf Swing Suite and an outdoor pool and hot tub (the latter of which is heated all year) for when you’re not hitting one of the many slot machines, the poker room or trying your luck at roulette or craps at the tables. Rates start around $239.

Around town: Outside the hotel, you can go for a fishing or shrimping trip, visit the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport or scout for cranes coming in for a landing at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge.

4.Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage, Rancho Mirage, California

Head to the Greater Palm Springs area for a nature-loving player’s mix of wild desert landscapes and acres upon acres of gaming tables and slots at Agua Caliente’s three casinos.

For the most decadent casino in the trio (and the only one with an on-site resort), check in to the 340-room Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage. (Note: Accessible rooms at this property have roll-in showers but no bathtub options.) It lures bon vivants who like to play and relax, too, with the world-class Sunstone Spa, complete with steam rooms, saunas, a salt chamber and a 50,000-square-foot palm-lined pool deck. Rates start around $199.

Around town: Get off the casino resort campus to dive into the Palm Springs area’s singular desert beauty with stargazing and storytelling tours, or a stroll through a palm tree oasis along the McCallum Trail in the Coachella Valley Preserve.

5. Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut

Located less than an hour from Hartford in a rural part of southern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is one of the most complete casino resort experiences in the Northeast, with more than 300,000 square feet of gaming.

Picture an indoor adult playground with entertainment of all types and you’ve got an idea, between the resort’s two indoor pools, two indulgent spas, a 10,000-seat arena that hosts concerts and sporting events, a comedy club and even an indoor waterfall that plunges 55 feet between a pair of escalators.

More than 1,500 rooms are available between the hotel’s two luxury towers; the resort has accessible rooms as well as wheelchairs and scooters for rent. Rates start around $239.

Around town: For a fun day trip, head to the cute town of Mystic along Connecticut’s coast (a 30-minute drive) to stroll by the water and visit the Mystic Seaport Museum.

6. Casino del Sol, Tucson, Arizona

Bingo, blackjack and more than 1,300 slot and video poker machines are just the tip of the gaming and entertainment iceberg at the 215-room Casino del Sol, located 15 minutes south of downtown Tucson in the Sonoran Desert. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe drew from native and Mediterranean decor for inspiration for the resort’s unique design, with its iconic copper dome and tower rising from the mesquite desertscape like a mirage.

A dozen dancing fountains surround the Oasis Pool, complete with a poolside bar for cocktails. Indigenous ingredients and Native American healing rituals are on offer at the hotel’s Hiapsi Spa, and the resort’s open-air amphitheater draws some of the biggest performers to southern Arizona.

The 18-hole Sewailo Golf Club, landscaped with more than 30,000 native flowers, is among the finest courses in Arizona. Rates start around $129.

Around town: Head into Tucson proper to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a fun mashup of a zoo, botanical garden and museum.

Terry Ward is a contributing writer who covers food, drink and travel. Her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler and The Washington Post and on CNN.