What’s the most degen casino you’ve been to?

If you mean crappy casino then yeah Cal-Neva in Reno is up there. Lol. But I don't think of it as being a "degen" casino. I feel like people don't necessarily go there for the gambling. It's more like a cheap place to grind free drinks and have a hilarious karaoke experience.

When I think Degen casino the first place that comes to mind is probably a riverboat I once stopped at in the Midwest. I think it was Harrah's in Metropolis, Illinois.

Like they literally had the casino on a boat to skirt the law, and it was clearly full of people who needed to get their gambling fix and couldn't be bothered to drive a few hours to a legit casino.

Oh just thought of another one near Reno. Bordertown. It's not a bad little casino. The diner is actually solid.

Bordertown is degen because it was built right on the California-Nevada border for the people driving from California who couldn't wait and drive another 15 minutes to get to Reno. At the time California had no legal casinos, so all the degens from California who couldn't wait would stop at the first place across the border. Now that California is full of casinos it's not quite as degen since you can stop at a casino in California before you even get to Bordertown.

Boomtown is another one. Bordertown is North of Reno just off 395. Sprawl from Reno has been approaching it and the degen feel isn't quite what it used to be.

It used to be the only building for miles in the desert, and it had a giant billboard with an arrow pointing at it. You just had to go up and down a hill and you were in Reno, but Bordertown was right on the Nevada border for anyone who was just fiending to gamble so bad that they couldn't wait the extra ten minutes to get to Reno.

Boomtown, on the other hand, actually had some other things going for it, like outdoor activities nearby and a big kids arcade area and pool for families. Plus their old steakhouse was great before it closed.

Bordertown had none of that. Just a casino that will serve you food so you don't leave (now I think they have a gas station too).

Which one? The one in Biloxi is up there. Ofc it is mostly a casino for locals and local casino employees. Then there is NOLA. IMO more degen than Biloxi

But even more are Belle of Baton Rouge and maybe Treasure Chest also NOLA.

Maybe my topper is Silver Slipper in Baytown, MS. Only been there once. The GPS literally chose to take us down a dirt road to get there.

Longhorn Casino.

The boat thing was a requirement for all Illinois casinos for decades. Now they can do land-based, but to change operations like that costs millions.

Metropolis is a shithole, though.

I remember back in the 90's having to get on the Boats at Lake Charles and then they would cruise around the Lake for a couple of hours. Smoke so thick you could not wash the stench out of your "Casino" clothes.

I will say the 1-4-8-8 Limit games and 4/8 Limit were fun....

Ha !

Actual sailings were rare. Boat captains became very proficient at identifying reasons it wasn’t safe to sale. Then “both” casinos got two licenses each and two boats. So when a boat did sale, you just went to the other one. Work fine for slots and tables but with only one poker room each, if that boat sailed you sailed.

But by end of 90’s I doubt between the 4 boats there were 5 sailings per year. I don’t think Harrahs sailed once and I am pretty confident the Isle never sailed in their last 20 years.

Indiana was even better. They had to sail on the Ohio River. But in doing so, at least sailing from Evansville, they would cross state line with Kentucky. To protect horse racing KY was adamantly anti casino. So they threatened to board and arrest everyone on board.

So the Evansville boat was allowed to not sail. But they were required to continue with virtual sailings. During these virtual trips not only could no one board, but short of emergencies you could not de-board. So if you busted, you could not leave. You could not even go out on deck and enjoy a nice cruise.

The kicker was by law you had to purchase a ticket for these virtual cruises. Correct, you had to pay for the privilege of losing money to the house. The scenery was looking at a lovely and stationary sand pile while you could see your parked car that you could not get to.