Casinos in Carson City, Nevada

Carson City may be the Capital of Nevada, but the town of 50,000 is sometimes forgotten when it comes to casinos in the Silver State. Because Reno was the first (and most notorious) city in Nevada to embrace legalized open gambling in 1931 with many full-scale casinos, other towns were slower to get publicity.

Las Vegas got on the map because there was a dam being built somewhere in the desert, but it took another 15-years and a dead mobster named "Bugsy" Siegel to make the new gaming hot-spot international news. And then there is Lake Tahoe with the beautiful mountains and crystal clear lake and some nice big casinos, and, well, Carson City's casinos just never changed.

If you travel down highway 50 from Lake Tahoe and go left onto highway 395 towards Reno and Carson you will be in the Capital city in just a couple minutes. Most people continue on another 45-minutes to get to Reno, but Carson has a charm all its own.

While there are no "big" resorts with hotel towers and one-thousand slot casinos, Carson City does boast 15 places to plunk your coins into slots and video pokers. And, several of the clubs have been around for 50 years.

The photo above is of the Carson City Nugget, taken 30-years ago. The club has changed very little since that time, but it's a nice place to visit with the usual table games like blackjack, roulette and craps, and plenty of slots. If you're hungry, the Garden Cafe has reasonable meal prices.

Burgers are seven-bucks and come with fries. If you want to add other side dishes to your meal like a baked potato or cole slaw, they only run $1.25 Fresh baked deserts are a bargain too at just $3.29 for a big slice of pie. Shoot, I was in a restaurant yesterday and the deserts were $6.95 - that's not the progress I'm looking for.

Other clubs in town like Casino Fandango and the Carson Station have similar casinos with table games, slots and video poker. However, if you are driving an RV or want a nice resort to stop over at, the Gold Dust West Carson City Casino is just what you are looking for. Formerly the Pinion Plaza, the casino located at 2171 Hwy 50 East towards the town of Dayton is the city's only true casino resort.The property includes an RV Park, meeting facilities, and a bowling center and arcade.

The casino includes Keno, table games, slots, video poker and a race and sportsbook. If you are in the center of town the casino is about ten minutes away and worth the drive. So, Carson City does have casinos, it's just a small town - with a nice small town atmosphere!