I find their slot machine payout on par with other area casinos, even those that advertise 'Voted loosest slots!' It's 100% random and a lot of luck. Even jumped up a tier at one casino, a nice little bonus. We went to 2 other casinos' the same day and enjoyed free play and a complimentary steak dinner. Seriously? The end result was, we arrived at 2:30pm, I put in $20, played my free play while my partner watched, and we left. Pala gave my partner who shares the same address as me, the opposite days of me to use his free play! So, unless we're there before noon, and stay until after 12pm, only one of us gets free play. It's a day trip.īut the final kicker is this. Being only 90 minutes away, we don't stay at the hotel. I get they do this so people can't use free play back-to-back, but if you get there around 2pm, our usual arrival time, and your comps for that day expired at noon, you're out of luck unless you come back tomorrow. To top it off, the offer is good from noon on one day, until the next day at noon. $25 doesn't even pay for gas right now Obviously, they know I won't be driving down 15 times in a month so they're pretty safe in offering me something they know I'll never use. Pala splits theirs up into 15 different days, and only for a 24-hours during a 48-hour period. Now I know that's not going to be all at once, although if you take a page from Vegas, a lot of times Vegas casinos DO let you use it all on one day. My last flyer on the outside said '$375 in offers'.

The way they structure their free play is maddening. Pala has been hit and miss for us over the years, but this time, it's a major miss that won't be bringing us back any time soon. The casino with the best comps, and best service, wins. What brings us back is the comps we are able to earn.

We're mainly slot enthusiasts and enjoy a good meal.

We're not minimum betters by any means, but we don't hang out in the high limit room either, although we do visit every once in a while.

We visit the northern San Diego casino's at least once a month and have developed a favorite of the years, and it's not Pala.

Pala casino spa and resort hair salon