Others are more typical of Las Vegas locals joints. I was actually surprised at how nice a few of the casinos are - they could give Red Rock and M a run for their money. The casinos in Phoenix run the gamut from classy to kind of dumpy. The largest casino tribes, the Salt River Pima Maricopa tribe and the Gila River Pima Maricopa tribe, are some of the wealthiest in the country with very high 'per-cap' distributions to tribal members. The casinos have been quite the boon for tribes that are lucky enough to be located close to Phoenix.
Now all Class II and Class III gaming is allowed, as are card-based table games (but not craps and roulette, although there are now physical/digital hybrids). At the outset, there was a tense standoff at one of the casinos when the cops tried to seize one tribe's slot machines and the tribe barricaded themselves inside the casino. Gamblin in Arizona has been a contentious issue between the state and the tribes, and has only recently been resolved. There is no legalized gambling in the state of Arizona - all gaming is done on Indian reservations pursuant to the 1986 federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and a 2003 compact with the state. Being new to the area, I visted all of them at least once.
There are seven major casinos in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
