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Overview

Laughlin is a small city of about 7,000 people located on the Colorado River near the southern tip of Nevada. Across the river is Bullhead City, Arizona, with a population of about 40,000. Laughlin's nine casino resorts (ten if you count the Avi) offer an inexpensive place to vacation and gamble that largely attracts senior citizens.

The close proximity to Las Vegas, about 90 miles away, makes it a welcome alternative to those who find Vegas too loud, too unfriendly, too expensive and sometimes too dirty or seedy. Laughlin is the opposite in almost every way. Overall, I think Laughlin is one of the best vacation values in the country. Where else can you get a room in a nice hotel for about $25/day?

History

Laughlin is very young as cities go, and much younger than the people who tend to go there. It was founded in 1964 by Las Vegas casino owner, Don Laughlin. He flew his helicopter over the site one day and saw potential in it. So he purchased some land and built the Riverside, a small motel and casino. It quickly became a huge success and went through various expansions. A city had to be named where it lay, so it was named Laughlin after its founder.

The 1980s saw huge growth in Laughlin as eight other large casino resorts rose up south of the Riverside. To accommodate the increasing traffic between Laughlin and neighboring Bullhead City, Don Laughlin spent $3.5 million to build a bridge between the two cities, which he donated to Nevada and Arizona.

Since the 1980s, the city of Laughlin has kept a low profile. Many of the resorts have changed names and hands, but things have been more or less the same for 20 years. Nonetheless, Laughlin did make the news a few times in the zeros decade:

2002: Two motorcycle gangs were involved in the 'River Run Riot' at Harrah's Laughlin, which resulted in three deaths and many more gunshot and knife injuries.
2005: A controversial power plant in plain view of the casinos was closed. Before closing, many residents complained of the pollution it caused. It continues to be an eyesore, in this author's opinion.
2007: CBS aired the comedy/drama/musical Viva Laughlin. The show was so badly received by viewers it was canceled after only two episodes. Pretty embarrassing.

Speaking of the 'River Run Riot,' that is not a typical time in Laughlin. Normally the town is full of peaceful senior citizens. However, for River Run week, I think usually in April, the town is overrun by motorcyclists.

Gambling

The games and rules in Laughlin are much the same as in Las Vegas. There doesn't seem to be much of a sense of competition between Laughlin's casinos; each property sets their rules about the same. Given the elderly clientele, the emphasis is on slots. Casino gaming revenue from slots in 2011 was 90.0% in Laughlin. Compare that to 50.9% on the Las Vegas Strip (Source: 2011 Nevada Gaming Abstract). Keno and bingo are also prominent. In terms of table games, the old classics are popular in Laughlin: blackjack, craps and live poker. There are not as many novelty or Asian games as you find in Vegas. In all forms of gambling, Laughlin is very low-roller friendly. You will not have trouble finding legitimate $5 blackjack, for example.

The default blackjack rules in Laughlin are single- or double-deck, dealer hits a soft 17, and no double after a split. Usually doubling is restricted to 10 and 11 in the single-deck games (except the Pioneer allows it on any first two cards). Unlike Vegas, the dreadful 6-5 blackjack has fortunately not permeated Laughlin yet. The only casino to allow it is Harrah's.

Update: In late October 2012 I received an unconfirmed report that the Pioneer no longer has any 3-2 single-deck blackjack.

Video poker is pretty liberal in Laughlin for low-denomination games. The Aquarius is awarded the title of best video poker in Laughlin by vpfree2.com.

I didn't play, but Laughlin looks like an enjoyable place to play live poker. There are a lot of small rooms with 5 to 10 tables, some of which overlook the river. Note that this is an exception to the usual rule about casinos not having windows. It would not surprise me if the poker limits were generally low.

Activities besides Gambling

The Colorado river is right there, so it would be a shame to go to Laughlin and not enjoy it somehow. During warmer months, you'll see jet ski rental places on both sides of the river. There are also river cruise options. I've seen dinner boats that take it slow and easy and fast boats that race you all the way to Lake Havasu. At the least, you can stroll along the river between the Riverside and Colorado Belle. There is also a water taxi that shuttles between casinos. A single trip is $5 or an all-day pass is $15. There are private sandy beaches at Harrah's and the Avi. On the Arizona side, there are a number of public parks along the river, including one just to the north of the bridge.

Laughlin doesn't have long-running, permanent entertainment shows like Vegas, but it does get concerts on tour all the time. Naturally, the headliners that perform here tend to be names that haven't been popular since the seventies or before. Some of the celebrities being promoted for upcoming tours when I was visiting were Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Smokey Robinson, Merle Haggard and Engelbert Humperdinck. I didn't know they were still performing. To be honest, I didn't know some of them were still alive. If you're in Laughlin between big shows, there are a lot of lesser names coming through.

There isn't a lot to do outside of Laughlin. Some people will split a vacation between Laughlin and Vegas, to get the yin and yang of tranquility and excitement. My father kept telling me to visit nearby Oatman, Arizona, a former gold-mining town, so I finally did one day. I thought it was a tourist trap, but clearly some people like it.

In terms of dining, the operative word in Laughlin is still 'cheap.' If you want fine dining, go to Vegas. If you want to eat for under $30 a day, come to Laughlin. If you want to upscale it a bit, most casinos have a nice steak house, and I'm sure there are other good spots I don't know about.

Early Visits

I first heard of Laughlin in 1987, when I had a college job in Santa Barbara making deliveries for an insulation company. My boss and his wife would go to play video poker, exclusively at the Riverside. They absolutely loved it and came home happy every time, win or lose. Meanwhile, Las Vegas had zero appeal to them.

Shortly after I turned 21 and began to study counting cards, my mentor in blackjack told me Laughlin was single-deck blackjack heaven, with plenty of low-limit games and much less 'heat' than Vegas. He was right. A red-chip player, such as I was, could aggressively spread from $5 to $50 and get little attention. That would quickly bring about the early shuffle in Vegas, if not being asked not to play blackjack at all.

Relative to my income, my best gambling trip ever was to Laughlin in 1989. For a solid weekend it seemed I could do nothing but win. Not just little wins, but every sitting seemed to rain money my way. Even teaching my friends craps resulted in a healthy profit. One of them remarked, 'I made about $300 before I understood what was going on.' I probably brought about $200 to play with, and I left about $1,400 up. At the time, that was a lot of money to me. I made a deal with the three friends from Orange County I went with that the one of us who made the most money would get thrown in the Colorado River. However, I conveniently forgot to remind them of that deal until we were half way home.

Between 1992 and 2011, I didn't visit Laughlin much. I got too busy with family, and there is not much for young children to do in Laughlin. Though during 2005 I did spend some time helping the Edgewater conduct a field trial of my casino game, Ties Win Blackjack.

Laughlin Casino Poker Lessons