The Jackson Rancheria Casino and Hotel is a large Indian casino located in the small city of Jackson, California, in Amandor County in the Sierra Nevada. Amandor County itself only has a population of about 38,000, so this is definitely rural country, and beautiful rural country at that.
Northern California's Largest Indian Casinos Top Ten Indian Casinos in Northern California. The following are the largest Indian casinos in Northern California based on square footage and total number of slot machines. Rancheria is Spanish for small rural settlement, and in California, several Indian tribes live on Rancherias, which is a small reservation. This includes the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, who own and operate this casino resort, one of the largest in the Northern California, in spite of its remote location.
Rancheria is Spanish for small rural settlement, and in California, several Indian tribes live on Rancherias, which is a small reservation. This includes the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, who own and operate this casino resort, one of the largest in the Northern California, in spite of its remote location.
To give you an idea of the size of this casino, it has 257,000 square feet of gaming space, and if it were located in Las Vegas it would be the biggest casino in the city by a large margin. Indian casinos are big business in California, and there are several this size or bigger.
Jackson, California, is famous for its being a former gold rush town, and although the California gold rush has long passed, it also is now known for the latest version of the gold rush, which is all the Californians rushing to Indian casinos to spend their gold. These casinos have provided a tremendous boost to the economy and well being of several Indian tribes, including the Miwuk Indians that run this one.
In spite of Jackson being in a pretty remote area of the state, it is less than an hour’s drive away from Sacramento, with a metro population of 2.4 million people, so there’s plenty of casino players for the casino resort to draw upon within very easy driving distance. This has propelled this resort casino to being one of the busiest and most successful in the state.
The Jackson Rancheria was opened in 1985 and it was one of the first Indian gaming facilities in the state. In 2012 the property saw an $80 million renovation where the hotel, casino, and its restaurants were all remodeled, and a VIP room was added to better take care of the high rollers that visit here.
It is one of the few casinos that does not serve alcohol on the casino floor, although you can purchase it elsewhere on the property. It is a non smoking only facility, and doesn’t allow pets either, other than service animals.
The Features of the Jackson Rancheria Casino and Resort
Driving up to the Jackson Rancheria, the exterior has a Frontier feel to it, although there’s nothing old fashioned at all about the interior and you know that you are in one of the most modern looking resort casinos in California immediately upon entering.
The hotel here is small by resort casino standards, with only 86 rooms, but the rooms here are certainly very nice, particularly for a small hotel.
This is a casino that gets almost all of its traffic from the locals making day trips but it’s a beautiful area and a fair number of people choose to make a vacation out of it. In addition to the hotel, there’s also a 100 space RV park with a free shuttle to the casino, and there’s more RV slots than hotel rooms, so it’s certainly a hot spot to visit for people who travel by RV.
The hotel is a AAA three diamond rated resort, and the RV park has been rated among the best around by Good Sam’s, so the accommodations here are of high quality.
The Rancheria just underwent even more remodeling, which was completed in June 2016, making the hotel even more appealing. In spite of this being a fine resort in its own right, the focus here is primarily on service, and the staff here prides themselves on standing out in that regard.
The rooms here are both spacious and beautifully decorated, and they deserve at least their three diamond rating, and perhaps should even get a four diamond award given the quality here. With very reasonable rates starting at $89 a night, for either a king or a double queen, these rooms go fast, and you need to look to book well in advance to ensure availability.
A junior suite will run you $179 a night, a very reasonable price for what is an outstanding hotel room. $299 a night gets you their ultimate in luxury, an Executive Suite.
There are four dining options on site, the Lone Wolf Restaurant and Lounge, the Rancheria Buffet, the Pacific Grill, and Margaret’s Café and Bakery. They also bring in regular entertainment here featuring a variety of acts.
The Grand Oak Ballroom with its 6,750 square feet is on hand to host your conventions and meetings as well as for special events put on by the resort.
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The Casino at Jackson Rancheria
With 1,700 gaming machines and 36 table games spread over a quarter of a million square feet, players will never feel cramped and the ratio of gaming room to gaming provides for a very spacious gambling experience here.
They feature a good selection of state of the art slots, video poker, and video keno machines, from a penny a play to $100.
The table games area offers several card based casino games, including Blackjack, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Fortune Pai Gow, EZ Pai Gow, Mini Baccarat, and Ultimate Texas Holdem.
There’s also a 9 table poker room here, and like the main casino area, it is open 24 hours a day. Limit and no limit cash games are offered, as well as poker tournaments, including a $5000 guaranteed one every second Sunday. There’s plenty of comps and promotions here as well.
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The High Limit room will take care of the needs of high rollers well, and there’s 8 high limit table games and dozens of high limit slots to go along with the even better service they provide here.
All players are eligible to join the Dreamcatcher’s Club, which has four different levels and rewards players for all of their play here.
The staff here is known to be particularly friendly and this is the cornerstone of this resort casino actually, and more than anything, what keeps players coming back. It’s a nice resort though overall and provides guests with some great accommodations in addition to some great casino action.
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