Sycuan Casino Resort is one of the largest tribal casinos in the San Diego area. It features a wide selection of popular slots and table games, as well as a comprehensive resort experience. Below, we delve into the specific offerings of the casino resort so you can decide whether its a good match.

At age 18, a person is considered a legal adult and can vote, play the lottery, and join the armed forces. At age 21, a person can legally drink and buy alcohol and patronize casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. But in many states, people can gamble at age 18—and there’s no better place to host a milestone birthday than a local casino. Year Opened: 1983: Phone Number: 800-279-2826: Address: 5469 Casino Way, El Cajon, CA 92019: Number of Games: 2,800+ Minimum Age to Gamble: 21-years-old. In the Southern California community of El Cajon (30 minutes east of San Diego), Sycuan Casino welcomes 18-year-olds to the casino floor to play any game. Enjoy video poker and slots, poker rooms and 63 tables with games like three-card poker, Caribbean stud and Pai Gow. You can bet on the horses and play bingo, too. Enjoy the luxuries of Las Vegas only 20 minutes from downtown San Diego. Dine at 7 unique restaurants & win big with 1700 slot machines and 40 table games. Visit Jamul Casino!

Sycuan Casino Fact Table

Games At Sycuan Casino

Sycuan Casino includes 2,800+ slot machines, with a wide range of themes and graphics, on its main gaming floor. Potential wagers start at one cent, with plenty of penny slots available. A high-limit section is also around for those who want to play high stakes.

Table Games

In addition to slots, Sycuan offers 56 table games. You’ll find many of the same ones you’d find on the Vegas Strip, including classics like blackjack, craps, roulette, and Spanish 21. There’s also a special Sycuan variation of craps that you can only find at this casino.

There are also “Asian” games like the kind you can find at many licensed card rooms and other California casinos. These Asian gaming options include card games like:

• Pai Gow
• EZ Baccarat
• Progressive Jackpot Poker
• Double Hand Baccarat

Poker

Guests can also find poker games and tournaments at Sycuan. A top-of-the-line poker room provides tables for enthusiasts and beginners alike. Daily poker tournaments are quick and easy-to-enter and provide a live casino setting without requiring you to risk tons of cash.

There are 17 poker tables in the smoke-free poker room, making it the largest poker room in San Diego. Poker varieties include Texas Hold ‘Em, 7 Card Stud, and Omaha Hi-Lo.

Bingo

You may also want to check out the Bingo offerings, which are fairly robust. After all, Sycuan Casino began as a Bingo hall. There are discounts for seniors and special offers for people who play Bingo on their birthday. Anyone who begins their morning with Bingo will receive free breakfast.

High Limit Gaming

Casino fans will almost certainly want to check out the VIP gaming lounge. This is the high limit area of the casino, and it provides a private gambling experience where players can enjoy food and cocktail services while playing their favorite casino slots.

This area also includes Asian games. You can reserve space within the VIP area as long as you give the casino enough notice.

Check out our Guide To California Tribal Casinos.

Events And Dining At Sycuan Casino

There are events that draw crowds to Sycuan all the time. The Heritage Event Center, the casino’s main hall for concerts and events, attracts entertainers from around the state and country. In the past, the hall has hosted concerts, musicals, comedy shows, and open-forum talks.

If you wish, you can even use Sycuan as a venue for your own meetings and events. It’s historically hosted business get-togethers, conferences and conventions, as well as weddings. You can rent much of the event space and there’s enough room at the resort’s luxury hotel to accommodate up to several thousand guests.

Spa And Fitness

One of the big draws of this casino is the spa oasis. San Diego can get fairly hot, and guests will enjoy how this casino allows them to escape the heat. The resort features two separate pools plus a lazy river that allows guests to float along with a current for a relaxing experience. There’s also a swim-up bar and several cabanas that are available to all resort guests.

Beyond this, Sycuan includes a fitness center that is open 24 hours a day, allowing guests to maintain their fitness while on vacation.

Dining

Sycuan Casino is home to a number of excellent bars and restaurants. The four main eatery options are The Uncommons, Rank & File, Bull and Bourbon Steakhouse, and Viewpoint Neighborhood Kitchen. These restaurants represent fine dining, a classic resort steakhouse, and casual dining experiences.

History Of Sycuan Casino

Indian casinos are legal across California because they’re technically built on sovereign tribal ground. This exempts them from the gambling legislation that bans casinos on California state ground.

Sycuan Casino first opened its doors in 1983 as a one-room Bingo hall. That Bingo hall still stands in its original San Diego location that made it a hotspot for Bingo fanatics. More recently, in 2019, the casino completed a $260 million expansion project. This expansion added the 12-story luxury hotel and a larger casino floor that includes over 80,000 ft.² of gaming and event space.

Sycuan Casino Resort FAQ

You need to be 21-years-old or older to enter the casino premises (including the resort and the event hall). This is meant to prevent underage drinking. See our guide to 18+ gambling in California.

Yes. Anyone who violates this restriction will be charged an additional $500 cleaning fee.

No. Self-parking and valet parking are both included for free as part of the resort experience.

The National Indian Gambling Commission regulates all gambling activities.

If you’ve just recently become a legal adult, you might wonder where you can go to gamble as an 18-year-old in California. With some exceptions, many legal casinos or card rooms in California will let you enter as soon as you turn 18. The same goes for any online gambling apps, although these are very limited because of California’s strict gambling legislation.

Here we will break down where you can enjoy 18+ gambling in the Golden State.

California Indian Casinos: Gambling Options For 18+

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The legal gambling age is 18-years-old on all land under California jurisdiction. Because Indian casinos technically operate on reservation land, they aren’t beholden to California legislation. They can set their own legal gambling age to some extent (with some government oversight). Because of this, some Indian casinos allow anyone 18-years-old or older to enter, while others have a higher minimum of 21-years-old.

The reason for this is that some Indian casinos serve alcohol on open gambling floors or otherwise make it very easy for anyone to obtain alcohol, even while following licensing verification practices. They set their legal entrance ages to 21-years-old to prevent any instances of underage drinking on their premises.

This means it’s important to always double-check whether a tribal casino has a legal age of 18-years-old or 21-years-old before making the trip. Most tribal casinos follow the 21-year-old rule. However, there are more than 20 (out of 63) that currently allow 18-year-olds to enter.

Northern California 18+ Casinos

Northern California casinos are usually based around Sacramento or San Francisco: the two largest metropolitan areas in the top half of the state. These resorts run from large to very small, featuring diverse themes and lots of different gambling activities that range from slot machines to lottery games to blackjack and other electronic games. Most tribal casinos are located in the southern half of the state, but there are still plenty of worthwhile ones to check out north of Fresno.

Here are some of the best Northern California 18+ casinos:

Table Mountain Casino

Just 20 miles north of Fresno, this casino is due for a big renovation over the next few years. For now, it includes several thousand gaming machines and over 40 table games. It also offers 10 poker tables for reserved or spur-of-the-moment Sit’N’Go games. The casino is currently looking into creating an adjacent hotel, but there are plenty of other accommodations nearby as well. Dining and live entertainment activities round out its offerings.

Lucky Bear Casino

A smaller tribal casino totaling 5000 ft.², Lucky Bear is one of the most northern tribal casinos in California. It’s nestled in the beautiful mountains and features dozens of slot machines and other games. It’s an ideal place to gamble and relax while touring the Northern California wilderness or road tripping up the coast.

Elk Valley Casino

This Northern California casino is open 24 hours daily. It features 23,000 ft.² of gaming space, 11 table and poker games, and over 300 distinct gaming machines. These are available alongside a single restaurant for convenient dining access.

Southern California 18+ Casinos

Southern California casinos outnumber their Northern California counterparts by a fair margin, and they’re mostly concentrated around Los Angeles, Fresno, and San Diego. They also include plenty of spas to take advantage of the typically relaxing, sunny Southern California ambiance. Additionally, many of the casinos feature entertainment venues reflecting a focus on the show business industry. These venues often utilize iconography or themes that draw from Hollywood or other iconic neighborhoods.

Here are some of the best Southern California 18+ casinos:

Morongo Casino Resort Spa

San Diego Casino Open

This casino is a perfect choice if you want to mix some spa time with your gambling activities. It’s very close to Palm Springs and has over 150,000 ft.² in total with nearly 3,000 slot machines. It also includes a poker room and 13 reserve poker tables for private games, plus a variety of spa and resort amenities like massages services, and pool access.

Tachi Palace Casino Resort

This famous casino is located in Lemoore just south of Central California. It’s one of the best casinos in the region, with over 2,000 slot machines, a seven-table poker room, and a 255-room hotel and spa. Several restaurants and other dining venues nearby make it a great place for general relaxation and vacationing.

Full List of 18+ California Casinos

Sweepstakes Online Casinos In California 18+

There are a few ways you can enjoy 18+ online gambling in California even though the activity is broadly illegal. One way is by using sweepstakes sites. Sweepstakes sites technically don’t have you gamble with real money. Instead, you play with digital Sweeps Coins or other types of fake currency.

Because you aren’t gambling with real money, California’s anti-gambling legislation does not ban the activity. Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Slots are great examples of online sweepstakes casinos.

LuckyLand Slots offers hundreds of digital slot games if those are your favorite. Chumba Casino, on the other hand, offers a broader online casino experience and provides several options for digital table games. Of course, you have to be 18-years-old or older to sign up for either website.

Sweepstakes Online Poker In California 18+

Sweepstakes poker, which also follows the sweepstakes gaming model, is another option that circumvents anti-gambling legislation in California. Global Poker is really the only option you should consider, as it’s a well-regulated and well-designed website that allows you to find poker games against human opponents any time, all over the world. It’s also legal in most US states.

Global Poker offers two classic poker games: Texas or Omaha Hold’Em. You can purchase digital currency or get free bonus Sweeps Coins just by playing regular poker games. These coins can be redeemed for cash prizes, which adds a little bit of excitement to every game.

Traffic is fairly consistent, so it shouldn’t be difficult to get a game even if you want to play during the middle of the week when most people (in your location) are at work. There are some daily and weekly tournaments offered as well, although the Sit’N’Go format of poker is by far the most common type.

Be aware that poker tables can vary dramatically. Skill level matches are hit or miss, so you might sit down with one game and dominate the competition, only to find yourself drastically outmatched during the next.

See our full Review of Global Poker in California.

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) In California 18+

Daily fantasy sports in California is still a gray legal area. In short, daily fantasy sports is neither legal nor illegal because there isn’t any California legislation outright stating either position. Big daily fantasy sports operators like DraftKings and FanDuel have so far managed to continue providing DFS without challenge.

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Currently, anti-gambling legislation in California only bans players from wagering real money on games of chance. However, DFS operators claim that fantasy sports is a skill-based wagering activity.

Until California legislation rules one way or the other, both DraftKings and FanDuel are excellent online DFS apps that anyone 18-years-old or older can enjoy.

Signing up for either app is pretty easy, and both providers offer intuitive user interfaces that look remarkably alike when you see them side by side. Both also provide opening bonuses, although DraftKings’ is much better, with a $500 deposit match guarantee and some free site credit.

You’ll also be able to enjoy tons of sports lineups and activities, ranging from major leagues like the NFL or NBA to women’s leagues or international soccer. The apps even have some options for eSports.

California 18+ Gambling FAQ

If you’ve recently turned 18-years-old, be sure to have an up-to-date version of your driver’s license or government-issued ID.

Yes. However, in California, the only online gambling apps that are legal are for daily fantasy sports and horse racing. These apps will ask for your date of birth and your Social Security number to verify your information before allowing you to make an account.

No. Sports betting currently isn’t legal anywhere in the state. However, tribal organizations may bring this to their brick-and-mortar casinos in the near future.

Not likely. The law is there to prevent underage drinkers from gaining access alcohol, not necessarily to stop them from gambling.

There are slightly more in Southern California. In general, you’ll find more casinos or card rooms around big cities anywhere in the state.