Max Rubin - The Bottom Five

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Worst American Casinos

1. The Del Rey Casino in Costa Rica
Located across the corner from the Horseshoe, the Del Rey Casino is in the middle of what may be greatest bar setup in the history of the world. Anchored by the “Blue Marlin,” every night this joint give the bar scenes in Star Wars a run for their money and at any given time you’ll see more drunk guys and drop dead gorgeous women than the Hard Rock and Palms combined.

About five feet away in the middle of it all is the cheatingest, rottenest, nastiest casino I have ever set eyes on. They’ll throw you out for winning ON ANY GAME, they’ll short pay your winning canasta (a form of roulette) numbers, try to take your winning bets off of a blackjack game and generally tell you that if you don’t like it that you can kiss their collective asses. On top of that, they comp precisely nothing.
Del Rey Casino

2. Circus Circus in Reno
I've never understood why everyone in this joint is so
miserable, but it's probably because they make their
staff eat the leftovers from the worst buffet on the
planet. The dealers are outright disrespectful, the
bosses are ruder and even the hosts come on to you
with an attitude. The only good thing about the joint is
that the big bosses are so stupid about advantage
plays that the Circus regularly coughs up a few hundred
K to Max's pals every year under their ever- watchful
and unseeing eyes.
www.circusreno.com

3. Imperial Palace on the strip
I normally have good things to say about Harrah’s because they are consistent. Their games are generally fair, their comps are OK, their food is edible, their people are well trained and you almost always know what you’re going to get at any Harrah’s property. Except this joint. They’ve got this dumply little sneering woman with very bad taste in clothes that’s a semi-boss on graveyard and she watches them deal the horrific 6/5-blackjack game.

I had some pals in that wanted to give the game a go (after being over served, obviously) and when they sat down and started betting over $100 a hand, this toad like woman croaked out to the dealer that she should only deal one hand and shuffle up. I asked her why and she said “because we might run out of cards.” Do you have any idea what the chances are of running out of cards on a five-spot blackjack game dealing two rounds to all spots???? Over 2.5 million to one. The chances of me ever spending another nickel at the Imperial Palace. Zero.
www.imperialpalace.com

4. The Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois
Another great example of what happens when you don't
invest in training and soap, the games, dealers, bosses
and building all stink worse than a drunk tank on
Saturday night.
www.casinoqueen.com

5. Binions in Downtown Las Vegas
They say that with some new owners that this joint is on
the verge of making a comeback, but I was there just
few days ago and it’s still got the feel of a third world
sweatshop with apathetic dealers and sullen bosses.
They have brightened the decor a bit and the jury is
still out on the food, which has been inedible the past
few years, but until I see at least a few full sets of
smiling teeth on the staff’s faces, I’ll have to keep
Binion’s in the bottom five).
www.binions.com