Known to locals as Silicon Beach, Santa Monica is a delightful seaside town with all the urban amenities and culture that bustling metropolises offer. Its assemblage of famed shopping options, award-winning dining, exquisite hotel collection, and natural beauty make it one of California’s most emblematic stretches of shoreline, famous as a spectacular seaside destination.
However, despite the fact that the Golden State is home to one hundred and sixty-three gaming establishments and is the nation’s largest Indian gaming territory, there are no gambling spots in Santa Monica. Thankfully, a few are a short drive away, providing those that wish to test their luck in the area with multiple high-quality options. Below, we analyze the top ones.
Gamble Online
Naturally, before setting off to a physical establishment to see if good fortune is on their side, everyone should first consider enjoying poker and gaming products over the internet. Concerning online gambling regulation, California allows its residents to legally partake in sweepstakes online casino and card betting, daily fantasy sports, and horse race wagering with operators based in the state.
Nevertheless, its authorities do not seek to prosecute those that choose to partake in some gambling fun at legit and safe casinos online. These are platforms with international licenses that offer their services to a worldwide clientele. Their product portfolios are vast, supplying diverse betting action supplemented with excellent customer support and varied banking options. Some top picks include BetOnline, BetUS, and Wild Casino.
Hollywood Park Casino
Found at 3883 W. Century Boulevard in Inglewood, the Hollywood Park Casino is the closest high-end gambling venue to the Santa Monica area. It opened its doors in 1994 as a card room and casino added to the Hollywood Park Racetrack complex, which shut down in 2013. The structure, which underwent a massive renovation in 2016, is beautifully decorated in an art deco style, boasting a gaming floor that stretches one hundred and ten square feet. It hosts a variety of popular table games, including multiple casino poker variants.
Poker is available at the Hollywood Park, with No-Limit Texas Holdem and Pot-Limit Omaha being the primary choices for patrons, offering blinds of up to $40/$80, attracting high-rollers. No-Limit Holdem Saturdays are a buzzing event with a sizable loyal player pool. Dining choices at this spot are the Century Bar & Grill and the Raise Lounge. Poker is considered to be one of the games with the highest RTP, at least in the online gambling world. This is why poker is so popular and why it is offered not only in land-based casinos, but at online gambling platforms as well. The RTP of each game can determine how much real money it’s possible to win and how fast the casino pays out. Each casino has different withdrawal methods, that is why the time of the payout varies. So if, by any chance, you decide to stay at home and play poker online, do not forget to choose the best fast payout casinos there is.
Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino
Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino is a card room on 1045 Rosecrans Ave in Gardena. Formerly the Normandie Casino, this locale got up and running as the Lucky Lady in July 2016. Three months after Normandie got its license revoked after its owner received a felony conviction, famed adult publisher Larry Flynt purchased this property.
The Lucky Lady features a well-appointed décor with a traditional Monte-Carlo flair. It seeks to provide a comfortable ambiance for casual players and luxurious private high-stakes rooms. Poker-wise, the options here are Texas Holdem and Omaha High/Low. Casino variations of the world’s most popular card game here include Pai-Gow, Caribbean Stud, and Three Card Poker. The venue’s Bailey’s Snack Shop is open 24/7, with the possibility of tableside eats and no deposit pokies.
HUSTLER Casino
As the Lucky Lady, the HUSTLER Casino was another Larry Flynt-owned establishment that operated this spot on 1000 W Redondo Beach Boulevard in Gardena via his holding company, El Dorado Enterprises. Flynt died in February 2021 from heart failure at the age of 78, and El Dorado Enterprises remains in charge of most of his gaming properties.
The HUSTLER Casino began its operations in June 2000, built on land formerly occupied by the El Dorado Club, which Larry Flynt bought in 1998. The establishment quickly became Flynt’s most profitable gambling locale. It now provides betting entertainment on a sixty-square-foot floor with a Monte Carlo-style décor, over thirty gaming tables, and fifty poker ones. The latter hosts Big O, Hi-Lo Omaha Poker, and No-Limit Texas Holdem card excitement. It is also home to one of the largest seed progressive poker jackpots in California and offers fantastic dining through its Larry Flynt’s Bar and Grill, Coco’s, and Corky’s Snack Bar.
The Bicycle Hotel & Casino
The Bike in Bells Gardens was the first physical casino to broadcast a live poker cash game over the internet. It is also the second-largest card room in the state and ranks among the ten biggest ones on the globe. Its smoke-free gambling area sprawls more than one hundred thousand square feet, and it is a frequent spot of the World Series of Poker Circuit and the World Poker Tour. Per the California Gambling Control Commission, this complex has over thirty listed owners.
The Bike has a rapidly growing entertainment center, and patrons can find a Starbucks plus three different bars here.
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