Pretty Pennies: Gambling Destinations in Connecticut

Gambling is a sport: you need the right frame of mind in order to know what to play and how to play it, and yet still earn a bit more to take home so that you can brag how much you won. You also need a lot of energy to go from one table to the next, and still use your brain as you calculate the odds of you winning at the poker tables, or scooping up the chips at baccarat. You need a mixture of mathematics, logic, and cunning to know where your budget is headed, and when you need to stop.

Gambling today is also mixed with a good deal of entertainment. If you visit Las Vegas, you can have dinner and a show, or a buffet and a show, or magic and a show. You can ride roller coasters, coast through a makeshift Grand Canal on a replica of Venice’s famed gondolas, or simply walk through the streets and enjoy the lights. If you go to Atlantic City, you can watch concerts as you enjoy your gambling day or night out.

If you want to experience the class and elegance of the East Coast, however, and still have the time to trek northwards and get a taste of the region’s famous clam chowder and lobster, then you might want to consider Connecticut. There are several destinations for gamblers in this area of America, where the rich and famous congregate to rest, relax, and have a good time. If you have pretty pennies to spend and burn, then you might want to join the rich and famous and have a few rounds at the casinos yourself.

There are many resorts and casinos in Connecticut, but the two major destinations can cover all that you need for a gambling weekend – or week, if you have enough money. Foxwoods Resort Casino is the world’s largest casino in terms of floor space devoted to gaming, where three hundred forty thousand square feet pay homage to slot machines, keno, bingo, and various card games.

Located in Ledyard, Connecticut, Foxwoods is also home to a hotel, restaurants, and even two floors filled with arcade games for teens and children, who are banned from the casino floor. Foxwoods also houses one of the BB King Nightclubs, where you can listen to a mixture of Jazz and rhythm and blues. If you want to hang out at the casino, you can enjoy blackjack, roulette, poker, and craps. If you are not keen on joining the rest of the world at the tables, then you can splurge on the slot machines, or engage in a few rounds of video poker. Be careful, however: on especially busy weekends, the minimum bets at the tables can run as high as about twenty five US dollars.

Also famous is the Mohegan Sun casino, cloaked in a Native American theme and encompassing about three hundred thousand square feet of gaming space – and, next to Foxwoods, is the world’s second largest casino. You can have your fill of food at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse and Todd English’s Tuscany, both of which are located within the Mohegan Sun territory.

Officially known as Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, Mohegan Sun is located on the banks of Connecticut’s Thames River, in the heart of the foothills of Connecticut’s southeastern areas. Within its grounds are various restaurants and a hotel of over one thousand rooms, as well as the Mohegan Sun Arena, where ESPN broadcasts WNBA shows. On the gaming floor of the Mohegan Sun are over six thousand slot machines and three hundred tables, where you can play roulette, blackjack, keno, craps, baccarat, and Caribbean stud poker. You can also hold important gatherings and conferences at Mohegan Sun, where a hundred thousand square feet of land is devoted to function room and meeting space. If you are not interested in card games, you can shop in Mohegan Sun’s various arcades, or bet on live greyhound or horse racing, as well as Florida jai-alai, through off-track betting stations.

There are also other activities available to Mohegan sun visitors. You can visit the spa, engage in exercise at the aerobic studio and cardiovascular center, dip into the swimming pool, lounge on the terrace, or simply sit back and relax to watch shows at various themed lounges and nightclubs. You can also enjoy a planetarium at the Casino of the Sky, where lighting effects and fiber optics give you a taste of outer space.

Connecticut is home to truly big casinos, so if you have money to burn and time on your hands, you can visit the state and enjoy a bit of gambling. As long as you know how to use your money and put the odds on your side, you can engage in gambling as a sport – and use mind and mettle to win the game.