I spent yesterday evening driving to Detroit, Michigan to buy tickets for the upcoming Art Alexakis solo show on Wednesday and decided to hop the border into Canada and check out the Caesars Windsor. I have not been to this casino before and was excited to check it out for the first time.

Crossing the border into Canada was somewhat nerve-wracking as the border agent interrogated me about why I wanted to go to a casino in Canada rather than just stay in Michigan and why I haven’t been through the country in 10 years. After a stressful conversation in which I had to convince the agent that I was not traveling to Canada to visit anyone or carrying anything illegal I drove around a bit before finding the self-parking garage at the casino.

The decor is fancy by any other midwest casino’s standards. There were statues and ornate ceiling decorations throughout the casino. I wandered the floor for a little while before exchanging my currency for Candian dollars. The exchange rate was $1 US to $1.20 CAN.

The action at the craps tables was steady and I chose a $15 minimum table and enjoyed the fellow players company. Everyone I played with in Canada was a lot of fun to talk to, something that is hit or miss at the Michigan casinos I frequent. I had a couple of good rolls and after an hour cashed out with a nice profit.

By the time I finished playing it was 9:30 so I stopped at the buffet for a quick dinner before they closed up at 10. The food selection was quite large, but because it wasn’t very busy I  could tell it had been sitting around for a while. I was only comped $5 for the meal. Considering my level of play, had I been at a Michigan casino I would have earned closer to $20.  The casino host I spoke with said that the level of comping at Caesars is quite low and that I’m better off winning to pay for meals than to rely on comps. This had to be the only drawback to Caesars. I like being able to play at Soaring Eagle and eat free on every visit just because of my comp level.

The best feature of this casino is the fact that it is non-smoking. The biggest drawback to casinos in Michigan is that I come home smelling like smoke, it’s just not something I care for. I look forward to going back to Caesars Windsor sometime soon.

[tags]caesars, windsor, ontario, canada, shaun carter, casino, gambling, craps[/tags]