Casino Camping

Does anyone have experience camping at gambling casinos? I know some are in cities like Vegas and Atlantic City. I am thinking about the standalone ones popping up in many states. Do they have large parking lots? Is parking free? Do you actually need to spend (waste away) money gambling?

Some have regular campgrounds with hook ups & fees, others have large free parking areas for tour buses and trucks. Gambling is not required but often they give you "deals" for restaurants & gambling. Search for web sites for casino camping.
Harry

They're an excellent place to stealth camp. They fulfill the Three Basic Requirements: quiet, dark and level. Far better than Walmart, which are usually only level. They often have security patrols, too.

Casinos welcome overnight dry campers and have no easy, economical way of enforcing "customers only" rules. I've been known to take a stroll through a casino before bed as a ruse, but usually I just crash. They usually have an economical hot breakfast available, too.

Las Vegas theoretically prohibits camping or overnight parking in all casino lots, but I've never been bothered. I believe it's a by-law to appease the hotel/motel industry.

The Circus Circus RV lot in Vegas offers showers and is centrally located. At over $50 a night, it's as expensive as some motels.

Most casinos have a lot dedicated to RV parking. Some have both a fee lot with all the trimmings and a free parking lot without any trimmings. The casinos value the RV customer. Good safe place to park.

I have yet to use one, but I've checked out a few figuring on future trips with our travel trailer. Many have had designated areas in an out of the way section of the parking lot with a number of people set up there. Others have just few campers which could easily be interpreted as just parked there because they haven't deployed anything.

The Kewadin Casino near Sault Ste Marie Michigan has very nice camping spots with at least basic electric hookups which my wife's cousin used. I don't recall the price, but knowing him it wasn't very expensive or he would have dry camped. He liked it and it appeared very nice based upon our one visit to his trailer.

I've checked casino websites. Many have a comment as to what the policy is. Some don't advertise, but don't bother you if you aren't obvious about it. (Keep your awning furled.) I agree that local ordinances may set up a Sgt. Schultz "I see nothing!!!" situation.

My mode with my tent ends trailer will be to stay closed up unless there is a designated area and I see others opened.

As to whether to gamble, I guess I woud feel like I do if I use a business restroom. I generally make some token purchase. So I'd probably play 5 or 10 bucks. Who knows, you may win. In my case, my wife will make certain that the casino gets properly funded so I have no problem using a casino as a camping option, nor does she. vic

Some friends got robbed sleeping in their van at Luxor in Las Vegas. They had the windows down because it was hot, and the guy reached in and unlocked the door and robbed them at gunpoint.

surlyoldbill said:

Some friends got robbed sleeping in their van at Luxor in Las Vegas. They had the windows down because it was hot, and the guy reached in and unlocked the door and robbed them at gunpoint.

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This is far more often the story I hear about what happens around casinos. Car break-ins are extremely common in Vegas. I had some guy staring me and my Sprinter down in a very uncomfortable way a few weeks ago, I was just stopped for gas and a sandwich. Next trip through I'll avoid even the gas stop. I had a van broken into just outside Vegas in Red Rocks several years ago. I've never heard of more break-ins anywhere else. Lots of money and lots of drugs and unemployment at the same time, no thanks.

NBB said:

This is far more often the story I hear about what happens around casinos. Car break-ins are extremely common in Vegas. ...

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We may visit Las Vegas some day so that's good information to have. Thanks for the heads up.

My experience has been more with Native American and NY State run casinos in the Western New York area and Native American in upper Michigan. So far things seem to be pretty good for those. No personal stories and not many, if any, news reports which I can recall.

vic

You betcha!

There was a viral youtube video not too long ago showing this guy do about 10-20 smash-n-grabs in a casino parking lot in Vegas, all in about 5 minutes. Maybe half the cars had alarms, didn't phase him. I haven't parked at a Casino anywhere since, not that I was ever comfortable about it.

Side story - ate at the Rio buffet one night, Joshue Tree ER the next afternoon for food poisoning, memories of these fat guys leaning over the buffet, guts popping out from under their shirt and spilling into the food - ended my meal right there.

Dudes - there are SO MANY remote, beautiful, quiet places along side the road and/or a short drive down some remote turn-off - all over the USA. They are never hard to find, especially with Google satellite images on your smart phone these days. This is what the Sprinter is made for - the RV American dream.

Thanks NBB for the heads up. I for one will never go to Las Vegas and park with the Sprinter.
That being said, I have parked in several small casino parking lots and they can be a convenient safe place to park. Use the same caution when parking in a city. Do not park in the bad parts of a city. As NBB states there are better places to park than a casino but not all casinos are a problem.

there are SO MANY remote, beautiful, quiet places along side the road and/or a short drive down some remote turn-off

NOT in So Cal!!

NBB said:

...
Dudes - there are SO MANY remote, beautiful, quiet places along side the road and/or a short drive down some remote turn-off - all over the USA. ...

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Homey - My ears hear and agree.

It's the co-pilot's ears you need to convince.

vic

Aqua Puttana said:

It's the co-pilot's ears you need to convince.
vic

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Always the problem.

"Too creepy" "Nowhere to pee", "Too Dark", "Too bright", "Too noisy", "That house over there looks scary" "I can hear a train somewhere"

etc

All whining aside, having a navigatrice on board certainly has its benefits. Especially while negotiating foreign cities like St Louis or Washington DC.

"Too creepy" : difficult to counter
"Nowhere to pee" : porta-pottie
"Too Dark" : Isn't that the idea?
"Too bright" : carry extra opaque reflective foil front-window sun barriers (we have 5)
"Too noisy" : Try camping on a rocky outcrop nose-up to pounding surf. Sell the ambiance
"That house over there looks scary" : rotate van 180 degrees
"I can hear a train somewhere" : NEVER try to camp along the Fraser River east of Vancouver BC (near Hope): on one side are Canadian Pacific tracks, and the other side is Canadian National. There's one BC Forestry campground that's located in the 300 foot (100 meter) gap *between* parallel rail lines (and Emory Creek Prov Park feels like it is).

--dick

So, we're camped in the parking lot at Summit Lake, Mt Evans road. My Sprinter is the ONLY vehicle in the lot. There's space for maybe 20-30 vehicles. It's midnight, full moon.

A gang of maybe 200 cars shows up and jams into the lot. I'm not kidding. There were guys from their group out on the main road directing traffic, cars jammed bumper to bumper into the back of the lot.

Smells of pot, noises of laughing, revving engines, some burnouts on the main road. 100's of people. I was FREAKED! I was waiting for 40 of these guys to pick up my Sprinter and toss it off a cliff. I'm peaking through the curtains, can't sleep at all. My van is surrounded, leaving is absolutely not an option. I wait.

What is my "co-pilot" doing? She tells me to STFU and get back to bed, I'm keeping her up...

Nothing happens to the Sprinter, never even touched. They all leave a couple hours later, then the lot is totally empty again...

Concerning Las Vegas area, I used to dry camp off the highway to Pahrump, 160, before the turnoff the Blue Diamond. There was a hill out there all by itself with several dirt roads around it. Now it is one of the sprawling ghost town subdivisions; solid housing all the way into town in what used to be ten miles of desert. There are still some dirt roads before you go up the pass to Pahrump, but I haven't explored them. I do know of a good spot after you get on the West side of the pass, Lovell Canyon Road, where there are secluded dirt road turnouts. There are probably a few spots out by Boulder, but if you go North of town on I-15 you enter a reservation before Valley of Fire turnoff, so you have to go a long way to find a drycamp spot. Valley of Fire has one of the most scenic campgrounds I've ever been in if you don't mind other campers around (weekdays are probably quiet). The back road along Lake Mead to Valley of Fire has many side roads that would be good for dry camping. An hour drive from The Strip, though.

Mrdi said:

there are SO MANY remote, beautiful, quiet places along side the road and/or a short drive down some remote turn-off

NOT in So Cal!!

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Most of California West of the Sierra is privately owned or gated to the public (even public land), so primitive camping is a near impossible task. There are a few spots here and there, but you have to search or know about them. Google Earth has been a great help.

autostaretx said:

"Too creepy" : difficult to counter
"Nowhere to pee" : porta-pottie handle style coffee can
"Too Dark" : Isn't that the idea?
...
--dick

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Your ideas work for me sometimes...

NBB said:

So, we're camped in the parking lot at Summit Lake, Mt Evans road. ...

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Thanks. Great story.

So it's about 1:00 a.m. and we're getting low on fuel. it was before we had low fuel lights. I guess that I was wool gathering. I spot a service station, but it's closed. I pull around to a back corner of the station lot and quickly back in. We prepare to bed down and wait for opening time.

All is going well until there is a bit of commotion outside. My wife peeks out and all of a sudden announces that she won't stay in the van here.

I reluctantly climb into the driver's seat and then I see her problem. Across the curb line is a strip club. The parking lots bumped (and grind?) to each other other. It was closing time and the patrons were being chased out. Only I could pick such a location.

Needless to say, a bit further down the road we found a more acceptable place to wait. vic

Too bad the place was closing.
A little Grinder, as a bedtime snack, may just hit the spot.