View Royal Casino -- Victoria, BC

Quote: Nareed

...It's also a hard game to learn. I've mastered the pass/don't pass come/don't come pay, but that's it.

That's pretty much all you need to know. In fact, it's probably best that you don't learn any other bets on the table. Well, maybe the place 6/8.

Quote: Wizard

I've been in the Seattle and Victoria for a week now and the weather has been great the entire time. Sunny skies and not a drop of rain.

Shhh! Don't tell everyone that summer has arrived up here!

I live in Vancouver and that big casino project mentioned is planned for downtown Vancouver, right beside the BC Place Stadium which happens to be directly across the street from the current downtown casino (Edgewater).

For years there were no craps tables in town due to gaming regulations regarding dice but that changed about 5 years ago. The Edgewater Casino had one craps table up until about 6 months ago when they took it out due to lack of play. There is one table in town (at the Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby, about 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver) that gets a lot of play. It has the Fire Pay bet and the crew is so-so. You'll also find craps at the River Rock and Boulevard casinos.

Not a lot of locals play craps for the reason Nareed mentioned - it wasn't available for so long that very few locals know the game and have little interest in learning and in many cases the crew doesn't know how to run the game at any kind of pace that makes it fun. Lots of payout errors and an air of disinterest.

The best poker games in town are found in the following casinos and from best to worst in this order: the River Rock (Richmond), Edgewater (downtown Vancouver), Boulevard (Coquitlam), Cascades (Langley) and Starlight (New Westminster).

If anyone has any questions about Vancouver area casinos I'd be happy to respond with as much information as I can get for you. As for the Wizard's comments about the Victoria casino and how quiet it is he's absolutely right. Victoria is known locally as the home of the "Newlyweds and nearly-deads". It's a great place to visit or retire and it is a very quiet place in general.

I've never seen craps prosper anywhere outside the US. To the outsider it is a complicated and intimidating game. However, it really is pretty easy to master just the line bets and odds, which is all you need. Seems to me the existing players are dying off, and not being replaced by young players. In two generations I think it will be hard to find a game anywhere.

Quote: TheNightfly

I live in Vancouver and that big casino project mentioned is planned for downtown Vancouver, right beside the BC Place Stadium which happens to be directly across the street from the current downtown casino (Edgewater).... Victoria is known locally as the home of the "Newlyweds and nearly-deads". It's a great place to visit or retire and it is a very quiet place in general.

I didn't know that. Whatever happened to the Chinatown casino there?

My water taxi driver today said that Victoria has the best weather in Canada, and thus attracts a lot of elderly people in the same way that Arizona and Florida do for Americans.

Quote: Wizard

I've never seen craps prosper anywhere outside the US. To the outsider it is a complicated and intimidating game. However, it really is pretty easy to master just the line bets and odds, which is all you need. Seems to me the existing players are dying off, and not being replaced by young players. In two generations I think it will be hard to find a game anywhere.

My water taxi driver today said that Victoria has the best weather in Canada, and thus attracts a lot of elderly people in the same way that Arizona and Florida do for Americans.

You were in my 'hood and you didn't say hello?

Victoria does have great weather (though those who like it hot are best of going to the Okangan Desert in BC, or so I am told). Rain fall is much less than Seattle and Vancouver due to the rain shadow effect of the Olympic mountains, the sea keeps a breeze going even in summer and a bit warmer in winter. I love it here. Apparently it's been a cold July. I don't mind, it's great for getting out and about into the countryside.

Some of those water taxi drivers are full of it though. I've not heard more lies per mile than from a water taxi driver :)

There's been talk about another casino downtown near the water front to pick up some of the cruise trip trade. Hopefully it doesn't happen. I've been to View Royal three times : once to look at it, once to show my friend what a backwater casino can be like and once because I was driving past and had had a free drawing offer that I wanted to drop in a box.

The VP also goes to 10 coins on some of the machines. I put $10 through once... and I like VP... the whole experience is rather sad and uninspiring. The tribal casinos in Washington do a much better job (then I don't think BC government should be running the casinos anyways), and River Rock has a much more entertainment/gambling buzz as well.

Quote: thecesspit

You were in my 'hood and you didn't say hello?

Sorry about that. I don't like to announce to the whole world when I'm out of town.

I appreciate your comments. That casino was pretty dead, but I didn't want to put it so strongly. A lot of it is not their fault, due to a lot of elderly players.

Seems to me the city might make less money off cruise ship traffic with a casino, for these reasons:

1. There is already a casino on the cruise ships.
2. I've noticed the patrons in cruise ship casinos tend to be small bettors.
3. Said patrons might leave more money behind doing other activities, of which there are plenty to choose from.

Quote: Wizard

Whatever happened to the Chinatown casino there?

The Chinatown casino hasn't been around for almost 8 years or so. The Holiday Inn casino on Broadway closed about 5 years ago. The Blueboy/Grand Casino on Marine Drive has also been gone almost 5 years. The Renaissance casino shut down almost a decade ago. The closures were due mostly to the fact that these were small casinos in rather out-of-the-way locations that didn't make a lot of money and couldn't sustain a big loss. They've now been replaced by the big(ger) joints like Edgewater and River Rock.

Quote: TheNightfly

The Chinatown casino hasn't been around for almost 8 years or so. The Holiday Inn casino on Broadway closed about 5 years ago. The Blueboy/Grand Casino on Marine Drive has also been gone almost 5 years. The Renaissance casino shut down almost a decade ago. The closures were due mostly to the fact that these were small casinos in rather out-of-the-way locations that didn't make a lot of money and couldn't sustain a big loss. They've now been replaced by the big(ger) joints like Edgewater and River Rock.

Thanks. The former Chinatown casino did a terrible job of advertising. As I recall it was on the third floor of a nondescript office building with zero signage. I think it was only by doing some advance research I even knew about it. Perhaps there was some law forbidding them to advertise, in the same way that the Pahrump brothels can't advertise openly in Las Vegas. Actually, I've started to see some discrete ads for the bars in said brothels, so maybe that is a bad example.

Quote: TheNightfly

The Chinatown casino hasn't been around for almost 8 years or so. The Holiday Inn casino on Broadway closed about 5 years ago. The Blueboy/Grand Casino on Marine Drive has also been gone almost 5 years. The Renaissance casino shut down almost a decade ago. The closures were due mostly to the fact that these were small casinos in rather out-of-the-way locations that didn't make a lot of money and couldn't sustain a big loss. They've now been replaced by the big(ger) joints like Edgewater and River Rock.

Wow, it's been 5 years since the Broadway closed... that's about how long I've been in BC then...

Quote: Wizard

Sorry about that. I don't like to announce to the whole world when I'm out of town.

I appreciate your comments. That casino was pretty dead, but I didn't want to put it so strongly. A lot of it is not their fault, due to a lot of elderly players.

Flower beds, newly weds and nearly deads. That's Victoria (according to the common saying anyways). The casino is a pretty nondescript part of the city too, out with all the used car lots, and has no view to speak of... which is hard work to do in Victoria.

Quote:

Seems to me the city might make less money off cruise ship traffic with a casino, for these reasons:

1. There is already a casino on the cruise ships.
2. I've noticed the patrons in cruise ship casinos tend to be small bettors.
3. Said patrons might leave more money behind doing other activities, of which there are plenty to choose from.

Indeed. I think it's a horrible idea for Victoria, but seem people seem to be insensed that there is a real working docks and float plane harbour there and want to "develop" it all...