When Harrah came to South Tahoe, his casino operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By then, the Cal-Neva Club on Tahoe’s North Shore had become one of the area’s hottest venues, attracting celebrities, politicians and mobsters. Poker chips and blackjack games were common staples of Tahoe’s nightlife. In the 1950s, when William Harrah expanded his casino empire to South Lake Tahoe, gambling was already a nefarious pastime throughout the basin. Gambling has long been a backbone of Nevada’s economy, and the same is true of Lake Tahoe. Love them or hate them, they are here to stay and they play a major role in the basin. Casinos are just as much a part of Tahoe’s authentic experience as skiing or hiking or swimming in the deep blue itself. You might think that casinos don’t really fit the whole vibe and feel of Lake Tahoe. As I head toward the casino’s front doors, about to emerge back into the daylight, I walk past all the devoted slot machine aficionados still pulling the levers at 9 in the morning.Ī tourist in Lake Tahoe was playing slot machines when they won more than $300,000 in the jackpot this month. But mornings in casinos are also prime time for people watching. The next morning, smelling like stale cigarettes and with a piercing headache, I’m desperate to get out of Nevada and go back to the California side of Tahoe and a sense of normalcy. Sometimes, I’ll sit down at the blackjack table and give the casino all my money in exchange for free drinks.īut the magic fades as soon as dawn arrives. I’ll step inside a casino and enter another world that whisks me away, down the aisles between the poker tables, across the mesmerizing carpet, to a dark club with disco lights and pounding music. To me, the casinos are like a fleeting one-night love affair, and every so often, I need my fix. Neon lights make everything more exciting and dazzling. I’ve long had a fascination with Tahoe’s casinos, which represent the best and the worst of Lake Tahoe. The Bilte, as we used to call it, still serves eggs and potatoes in the restaurant just next to the slot machines.
The Bilte’s $1.99 breakfast special was one of Tahoe’s best-kept local secrets.īut sadly, those cheap breakfast days in Tahoe are long gone, along with affordable rent, empty ski runs and traffic-free roads.
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