Best Casinos in Arizona 2023

At Betting-AZ.com, we’re here to answer your questions on all things related to casino in AZ. Get the lowdown on the best casinos in Arizona, and the legal landscape for the state’s online casino industry. Online casinos aren’t currently legal, but expect that to change in the future. Naturally, we will cover all the key elements that you need to know when that happens.

With the Arizona state legislature deeming that only sports betting can be carried out online, the only option is to visit land-based casinos in the Grand Canyon State at present:

If you want our opinion on the best casinos in Arizona, we’ve got you covered. We’ve ranked the top ten casino resorts in the Grand Canyon State, based on the customer experience. This spans everything from the range of casino games on offer, the furnishings of the casino floor, and the on-site amenities and accommodation.

The three main cities in Arizona where you’ll find land-based casinos are Phoenix, Tucson, and Mesa. These cities are home to the state’s leading resort casinos, where you’ll not only find a comprehensive spread of table games and slots, but access to many other forms of entertainment from live music to fine dining venues.

If you’re looking for a new casino in Arizona, look no further than the Apache Sky Casino. Owned by the San Carlos Apache Tribe, it is the sister resort of the Apache Gold Casino. The Apache Sky Casino formally opened its doors in April 2017, with the 170-acre site located at the southern end of the San Carlos Apache Nation.

As you might expect from a new casino in Arizona, the Apache Sky Casino contains hundreds of state-of-the-art high-energy slot machines, including a string of progressives. There’s also a stylish Sky Bar and the Apache Sky patio where DJs play long into the night.

There’s also the Fort McDowell Casino which originally launched in 1992. It is one of the latest casinos to undergo a comprehensive refurbishment. It relaunched and rebranded its brand-new casino floor in October 2020. Its new casino entertainment facility costs in the region of $120 million, providing 166,341 square feet of prime-grade gaming space. The We-Ko-Pa Casino now offers more than 900 slot games, multiple table game variants, as well as a dedicated poker room and bingo hall.

The We-Ko-Pa Casino also features nine on-site eateries and bars, ensuring nightlife for guests of the Tucson resort.

Plans are afoot for a brand-new casino resort in Chandler, with the Gila River Indian Community ring-fencing $100 million for a 580-acre project providing world-class casino gaming, as well as a golf course and hotel with spa facilities.

At the time of writing, Arizona’s online gambling legislation focuses squarely on regulated sports betting. Prior to Arizona’s legalization of sports betting, some 25 US states and the District of Columbia had already launched their own regulated sports betting markets. Subsequently, it had been a long wait for sports fans to get access to legal sportsbooks in Arizona.

The bill for legal sports betting in Arizona had been five years in the making. Governor Doug Ducey eventually signed the bill into law in April 2021, with established sportsbook operators such as FanDuel and Caesars Sportsbook quickly confirming their arrival in the Grand Canyon State.

Arizonans are no strangers to gambling. In fact, it has been something of a tradition for generations in the Grand Canyon State. Prior to World War II, locals were permitted to bet on horse racing and greyhound events as a matter of course via pari-mutuel betting operators.

Several decades later, the US Congress approved the state’s Native American tribes to utilize their land to build and operate land-based casino facilities. Arizona was one of a handful of US states to underpin the “boom” of tribal casinos back in the 1990s.

Nevertheless, the legalization of online casinos is not something that’s been on the agenda of the state legislature. Although online sports betting in Arizona and daily fantasy sports has been legalized since 2021, there is no sign of online casinos being next on the expansion list.

It took Governor Ducey five years to negotiate the tribal gaming compact amendment with the state’s tribal casino operators. Ducey described these negotiations as a “culmination of years of partnership and engagement” among the state’s tribal stakeholders. Although Governor Ducey said that this gaming compact amendment pushes “individual agendas aside” and puts “Arizona first”, the prospect of the state’s tribal casino operators agreeing to online casinos that could potentially put their brick-and-mortar sites in jeopardy seems unlikely for now.

The reality is that online casino gaming remains prohibited in the Grand Canyon State – at least for the time being. Although there is no specific legislation that deems iGaming illegal in Arizona, that doesn’t make it legal either. There are no legalized and regulated online casinos in Arizona. Any online casino that wishes to provide real-money casino gaming online to the citizens of Arizona will be located offshore.

The problem with playing at unregulated offshore sites is three-fold. First and foremost, you get no firm assurances that the money you deposit into your online casino account will ever be returned to you – or indeed any subsequent winnings derived from your initial deposit. With no regulatory body existing to provide oversight to the citizens of Arizona, you are depositing funds entirely at your own risk with an offshore online casino.

Secondly, when you choose to sign up and play at an offshore online casino that’s located outside the US, the operator is no longer bound by consumer protections, as well as state and federal legislation. Although many offshore sites are licensed and regulated by iGaming jurisdictions in certain nations, this is of no use to you when gambling online in the Grand Canyon State.

Last and by no means least, when registering with an unregulated offshore online casino, you’ll be required to provide sensitive personal and financial data. Are you comfortable giving your data to an offshore operator with no legal obligation to safeguard it? In the event your bank account details or personal information were to be lost due to a cyber attack, there is very little in the way of support available if your offshore operator is compromised.

If the state legislature decides to legalize and regulate online casinos in Arizona, you should look to play with an operator that’s licensed by the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG). The ADG oversees all other forms of gambling activity in the Grand Canyon State and handles the state’s relationship with all tribal operators.

The premise of gambling is that it should always be fun. You shouldn’t be feeling stressed about your gaming, whether it’s at the tables or on your favorite slot machines. Nor should you be worried about chasing your losses or wagering more than you can afford to lose.

That’s why the most reputable casino operators in Arizona offer a range of responsible gaming measures, designed to put your interests first. Self-exclusion is one avenue you may wish to explore. This procedure allows you to self-ban yourself from any Native American Gaming Facility in the Grand Canyon State.

If you acknowledge yourself as a problem gambler and wish to self-exclude, the procedure restricts your access to any Class III tribal gaming activity within the state of Arizona.

The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) offers a string of resources and information to provide education and support for those potentially impacted by problem gambling.

The ADA subsidizes outpatient problem gambling treatment for individuals with a gambling problem, as well as those whose lives have been affected by a problem gambler, be it a friend or family member. Reach out to ADG’s Problem Gambling to access the organization’s 24-hour helpline and its on-site resources.