Many casinos across the United States offer free overnight parking. Some even have RV resorts and campgrounds on-site, while others offer just the bare minimum. Have you ever spent the night in your RV in a free casino lot?
If you’re stopping at a casino or are a casino camping newbie, check out these books:
American Casino Guide provides not only information on casinos, it has a gambling primer on slots, video poker, blackjack, craps and other popular casino games as well as RV, hotel and restaurant information.
Casino Camping: Guide to RV-Friendly Casinos is also a great guide and provides a lot of information, particularly for RVers.
Spent the night twice at Circus Circus – the first time it was free – the 2nd time we had to pay for it.
Have done once in a casino parking lot, though it was not free (I think $25) it did have water and electric.
Yes several times however many of them are now charging for it. I didn’t mind the $5.00/night but the last one wanted $25.00 for boondocking. Bye bye casino instead of leaving a couple hundred at the gaming tables I left nothing.
Once, in the lot you have pictured. I didn’t sleep well. We stay often in the adjoining RV Park where we pay. It feels much more “secure”.
We’ve stayed at the Riverside many times and lots of other casinos west of the Rockies. We actually look for casino parking because they usually have large parking lots. We travel in a 40′ motorhome pulling a 22′ cargo trailer so the large lots make parking easy. With the price of fuel, if we are offered free parking, we will take it.
Sunland Park Casino, NM was our first time. There were eight spots with hook ups and a shuttle to the casino to register. nice eats too. It is set adjacent to a horse racing track. They started mighty early the next morning, 3 or 4 AM. A few others along the way.
We are snowbird RVers. Many far northern parks have seasons too short to fit our departure or return dates. We were stuck doing a long tow plus either shutdown or open up chores of our home. We found a rural small tribal casino with a limited number of 1st come, 1st get (no reservations) parking spots with 30A service. It was only a mile off our route and perfectly positioned for the needed first/last travel day. Those spots are nearly always available in our off-season travel dates.
Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort and Hotel in Arizona near Flagstaff was very safe and had lots of room in the rv section of the parking lot. No limit to how many days you can stay. The staff was very nice as well. We had to buy some RV parts in nearby Flagstaff and the casino parking lot was very convenient to stay and do our repair before continuing our journey. I patronized the casino by playing the quarter slots, and walked out 10 minutes later with $190.00 winnings, which subsequently paid for our RV parts. So I will always remember Twin Arrows as good luck for me.
No. Shady place to camp like Wal-Mart parking lot.
Free? No. We have paid for full hook up in a casino parking lot, right along the Mississippi River. And of course we went in the casino for dinner and to spend $2.00 each (yes 2 dollars) at the casino.
We have before as overnight er getting home. We don’t gamble and I can’t stand smoke, so we never go inside one
Not in an RV, but in a semi I did. After a delivery to the casino I inquired about a truck stop or big box store I could take my mandatory 10 hour break at, they said just pull over to the edge of the parking lot and relax. I did and one of the best nights sleep on the road I’d ever experienced.
We stayed free in a lot at Cactus Pete’s Casino in Jackpot, NV. Pleasant stay with not much noise. We went in and had a very nice dinner. Next time through we actually stayed in the RV park. Nice place.
If it fits our travel path. We don’t gamble other than lotteries. Wife can’t stand smoke. We might eat if their rest./buffet is notable. It’s just another friendly parking lot to us.
We stayed in an Idaho casino parking lot that offered free 30A electric hookups before July 1, but no water or dump. It was perfect for our travel trailer that had no solar or generator. After June, the casino charged $20/night for the electricity.
We too are snowbirds and have always stayed at Indian owned casino’s on our trip south. In the past we found them inexpensive and the food was good and a value. Now, we have quit patronizing as the food and RV parks are more expensive than the typical RV parks and restaurants. The buffets ended with COVID and were replaced with fifteen dollar burgers.
With fuel at five dollars a gallon we just look for the basics as we travel to and from the desert southwest.
We’ve stayed in casino parking lots and also in casino campgrounds. The price was right at zero dollars and we’ve usually gotten ten or twenty dollars in free play. Always ask for permission and where to park and we’ve found they all have security so we sleep easy. With a players card – which is free – you get a discount in the restaurants and although the meals aren’t bargain priced like they were 30 or 40 years ago they’re still reasonably priced.
The two nicest FHU, “not-free” casino RV parks we have stayed in were in Verdi, NV, just off I-80 west of Reno, and Granite Falls, MN, west of Minneapolis on MN 23. Both were gated, separated from the casino parking, concrete paved, nicely landscaped, and very safe!
Our favorite casino RV park is Black Mesa, NM, just east of I -25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It has gravel pull-thrus with 30-50A electric hookups, a water fill-station, and a dump. But, best of all, it is exactly a day’s motorhome drive south of our home in Colorado when we are heading for snowbirding “resorts” in AZ.
Yes! In Oregon Klamath-Mo-Ya north of Klamath Falls and Chinook Winds on the north coast have free boondocking and the casinos are completely Non-Smoking. 7 Feathers Casino had free parking but only a tiny non-smoking room. Food at all three is fairly good and fairly priced. None are gated but security seems good.
Once only so far. It was the only port in the storm so-to-speak. We had been delayed five days by a mechanical issue and re-routed from BC to Alberta by wildfires. It was a July weekend so between Banff and Jasper parks and the Calgary Stampede going on we couldn’t find a campground with an open spot at any price. DW saw a casino sign so we drove in and found other RVs out at the edge of the parking lot and joined them for the night. We’d had no access to a dump station or shower all this time so it wasn’t until the next night back in the USA that we felt like real human beings again.
We have availed ourselves of casino parking a number of times. We are travelers more than campers so spending money just to have a place to sleep is not in the cards. We love the out-lot at Casino Queen in East St. Louis (across the river from the Arch). They are not all that good. We pulled into one and were just settled in when a reefer truck joined the pack… We tried to relocate, but the rent-a-cop said we had to stay in that area. So, we didn’t, rather than dinner and a lounge act, we fired up and found another location without a reefer truck.
The Shooting Star casino at Mahnomen, MN (a wide spot in the road!) has a very nice full hookup, patrolled campground. There is also dining and a hotel. I don’t recall the price, however it was reasonable. There was also a shuttle to the casino if desired, altho it is only about a block walk.
Casinos are among our favorites and we’re not gamblers. What we love about casinos are they generally have great restaurants. They use to be cheaper than any other place around, but that isn’t as true so much these days. It is nice to be able to get a meal without having to drive anywhere else and, after driving for a few hours, that’s a real plus. We even stay at casinos where we pay for overnighting.
We have not stayed in a casino’s parking lot but we did stop at the St Croix Casino 7 years ago where they had a nice RV park in Turtle Lake, WI. It was a very nice park! My trip record says we paid $20 a night there.
Not overnight, but we stayed at the one across the river from the Arch, St Louis, for several hours so we could take the train over and go to a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, while passing thru on our last big RV trip in May.
Have never stayed “for free” but have stayed at “pay for” casino campgrounds.
Most definitely! Of course, the deal is one of us fixes dinner while the other goes in to play the one-arm bandit until $10 is gone. Needless to say, the other is back before dinner is ready.
May one day. DW likes to gamble a little now and again. I fail to see the point of voluntarily taxing myself.