Casino Reviews

The Red Earth Casino California is at the south end of the Coachella valley in Southern California on route 86 about midway as you pass the Salton Sea. We like to visit this casino every year at least once to enjoy and afternoon or evening playing the penny slots. There is also a travel center here were you can buy gas, grab a sub from Subway and other drinks and fast food items as well as snacks. Lot’s of room for RV’s to gas up or just park for awhile  as well. They may even allow over night parking in their parking lot, since there really is an overly large parking lot that is perfect for RV’s.

This is a small casino with maybe 200 machines, free soft drinks, a subway, a gas station and not much more. We had a nice time here one afternoon and won a small amount of money.

Red Earth Casino California – Salton Sea

The second picture shows highway 86 and the Salton sea beyond. For more information about the Salton Sea, Click here.

This picture was taken from the Casino parking lot facing east towards the Salton Sea. There are no motels or hotels in the area, so if you decide to visit do not plan on staying the night. You should head back to one of the valley cities or to points south, although it will be a long drive. There are also hotels in Borego Springs about 45 minutes away.

It has never been very busy when we visited this casino usually during the day time. We are not sure about the evening hours. It is a bit out of the way with not a lot in the area. The clientele during the day are a bit rough looking. I can only imagine what it is like during the evening. It is not a place I would want to be during the evening.

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We recently visited the Soboba Casino near  Hemet California and frankly had mixed feelings about the place. It has an advertisement at the front that suggests they have the loosest slots and have won awards for this.  What a joke that is! Based on our personal experience.

Now I know you are all thinking that this is just a marketing ploy and it is, but when you win absolutely nothing and then friends visit the same casino and do the same thing, you have to wonder. We did see people winning a little bit. But the Soboba Casino  certainly did not treat us well at all.

We tried a number of different slot games to no avail and as a result we will not be going back to this particular casino. We are in the Palm Springs area and it is a 45 minute drive to Hemet and it is just not worth the trip. Now for a short description of the casino.

Location

It is located just outside of Hemet, California at 23333 Soboba Rd. San Jacinto, CA. 92583. They run a golf course as well and what looks like a rodeo  or something similar.

They have 2020 slot machines, bingo and a poker room with 14 tables. All of the popular slot machines are in place and they have one of the largest non smoking rooms we have seen. In fact the casino is made up of three large rooms each filled with slot machines and the last room is a non smoking room which is excellent for those of us who like non smoking. Many Indian Casinos have not caught on to the non smoking craze, so the Soboba casino is definitely ahead of it’s competitors.

There are also three small coffee shops that serve a variety of food. They do not have a buffet and the coffee shops are small and located either between the rooms or along a wall in the casino.

Soboba Casino Hemet – Parking

There is a tremendous amount of surface parking available and they also have valet service if you would like this service. The people were courteous and friendly and even though they allow smoking in two of the big rooms we did not really notice the smoke like you do in some other casinos in the area.

There are really two tents and one building. However when you are inside, you really are not aware that you are in a tent. They have built ceilings that make it feel as if you are in a building and not really a tent. although we did not win at this particular casino, it is a nice place to visit and try your luck.

We probably just had a bad day as did our friends. Their payouts are probably the same as everywhere.  If you have been there and would like to leave your comments please feel free to do so. We will approve links back to your site, if you leave a worthwhile comment about the Soboba Casino.

There are only a couple of casino hotels in the Palm Springs area of California. There is the Fantasy Springs Casino and the Agua Caliente casino hotel. Neither of these hotels is actually in Palm Springs since they are located in cities nearby in the valley. The only casino hotel in Palm Springs California is the Spa casino hotel. It is located in downtown Palm Springs on Amado Road. This is two blocks from Palm Canyon Drive which is the main road through Palm Springs. It is in the middle of downtown Palm Springs surrounded by many restaurants of all types. All are within walking distance of the casino. There is also lots of parking for patrons available as well.

Spa Casino Hotels Palm Springs California

The Spa Casino Hotel in Palm Springs California has been reviewed on this website and we have visited it several times in the past 10 years. It has evolved from being in a tent attached to the hotel to a full-fledged casino in an elegant building with very pretty gardens and palm trees surrounding it.

The Spa Casino has a deli restaurant, a buffet, and several other restaurants that are higher-end. There are many restaurants within blocks of the casino and it is very safe to walk the streets in the area of the casino as well. With a combination of restaurants and condos surrounding this casino, it is a safe environment to park your car or walk from your condo to the Spa Casino.

In terms of gaming, there are all of the latest and popular slot machines along with a variety of table games as well. They have a small nonsmoking area, which is usually quiet since they did not put the best games in this area. the casino can get pretty smoky so if this bothers you, you may want to stay clear of it on business evenings or on the weekends.

They also have events at the casino. Slot tournaments, draws etc so if you do play a lot make sure you get a slot card and use it. You will be invited to various events that they host for their slot players and table players.

Palm Springs Convention Center

The Palm Springs Convention Center is also within one block of the Spa Casino Hotel in Palm Springs California. this convention center is a state-of-the-art center hosting many events over the year. Patrons and convention goers often go to the Spa Casino Hotel which is within walking distance. It is just one block away. There is ample parking for both the convention center and the casino. Of course, you can also use valet parking at the casino.

Restaurants in the Area

If you walk up to Palm Canyon Drive and turn left in the direction of the traffic (it is a one-way street), you will pass by all of the restaurants. There are quite a few, most with outdoor patios where you can enjoy a meal any time of the day. We are reviewing a number of these restaurants on another website that we operate.  If you are interested, click here, and select the category Palm Springs Restaurants. There are over 1000 restaurants in the area and of course, we will not review all of these, but the ones we have are the restaurants we have visited in the area and also enjoy.

That’s about it for this post on casino hotels in the Palms Springs area of California. If you have been there and would like to leave a comment, please do. We like to hear from other writers who can contribute and help out our readers.

Dinner at the Spa Casino Palm Springs was not up to par as far as we are concerned. We recently had dinner at the buffet at the  Spa Casino in Palm Springs. We wanted to pass our thoughts on this buffet to our readers. For the original review of the casino in Palm Springs, click here.

The buffet on Saturday night is billed as a seafood buffet, costing $23.99 plus tax. Now if you have a slot card, they will reduce the cost of the buffet by 10%. As a result, two people save you almost $5.00. We were very disappointed with the buffet, especially the seafood part of it. There were several reasons for this disappointment. We will list them a bit later in this post. We had heard good things about the buffet at the Spa Casino. However, what people think of various restaurants is a matter of personal taste. I can tell you that we have tried many buffets at various casinos. Consequently, this one rates as one of the worst for us.

Spa Casino Buffet Palm Springs

Here is our list of reasons; you make your assessment or opinion on these items:

• No service for drinks; you pick up your own
• Limited seafood – crab legs, salmon, calamari, and shrimp
• Crab legs were very small, and the legs were filled with water and smelled very fishy
• Calamari was breaded and overcooked, so it wasn’t easy to chew
• Shrimp were very small
• Salmon was ok
• There was a large selection of standard items
• These food items were ok
• Desserts were very small

The bottom line was that we paid extra for a seafood buffet. Hence we were very disappointed in the items that were provided.

Now we should have caught on early before we paid. The time we entered the buffet was around 6 pm. Which was the typical time that many people would go for dinner. First of all, there was no line up to get in and no line up any time to get into the buffet. It was very slow, which for us was nice because there were not many people around. However, it means that people are voting with their feet and going elsewhere.

Not only was the food less than great, but the price was also high. There are many restaurants in Palm Springs, many with happy hour menus. Consequently, for $50, you can enjoy a lovely meal. As a result, we think the combination of high prices and poor food quality drives potential customers away in droves.

We would like to hear comments from readers about your experience at the Spa Casino in Palm Springs and what you think of the Spa Casino buffet.

Havasu Landing Resort and Casino is located on the western shores of Lake Havasu at Havasu Lake, CA. We took a short video while we were there to show you just what this small casino looks like so you can judge for yourself whether you want to spend time going there.  Click on this link to see it = Havasu Landing and Casino and the marina immediately beside the casino is a really nice little village that I am sure booms in the summertime.

We visited this location in March and most places were closed due to the fact that it was winter, even though the day boasted a sunny 70 degrees. Even though most cottages and trailers were closed up tight the casino was still open and there were a few people there. This place is probably very busy during the summertime.

The Ferry from Havasu City

The ferry comes over once every 30 minutes from the Arizona side of Lake Havasu, Lake Havasu City. The lake Havasu casino is actually in California. Around lunchtime, quite a few people got off the ferry that brings people over from the east shore or Lake Havasu City and headed straight for the small restaurant. They must get a voucher for lunch along with their ferry ticket. You can sit in the restaurant right along the water and have a basic pub kind of lunch which is fine as long as you are not expecting more than that.

Casino Size

You can also sit at a small bar in part of the casino and look out onto the lake a well.  We are not going to do our standard review of this particular casino since it is so small. We do want to manage the expectations of anyone planning to go there. It is a very small casino with standard machines. We expected very low payout rates, although of course there is nothing to base this on other than they have no competition.

There are only two ways to get to this casino. One is via the ferry from the Lake Havasu side, while the other is via car from highway 95. You can make a day out of it by driving to Lake Havasu City, visit London bridge and then take the ferry over to the casino.

Would we Go Again to This Casino?

This is not a place we would recommend driving out of your way to travel to, however you can spend a very nice day visiting the lake and the casino while having lunch in the casino if you are in the area. If you are staying in Havasu city, taking the ferry over as well is a nice days outing.

If you have been to this casino and have comments, please leave them since our readers will appreciate the suggestions you may have.