Casino Action

ABOVE: The Princess is the biggest casino in Belize - it is located on the Belize City waterfront. Picture actually shows the entire hotel building. The casino occupies half of the ground floor.

For the casino lover Belize has limited facilities - but they can be a welcome break from too much sea and sand, or from the cloistered cruise ship casinos. The biggest is at the Princess Hotel and Casino in Belize City - it's the nearest you will get to a Las Vegas style casino in this part of Central America. The Princess is located on the waterfront just off Barracks Road. The casino is on the right as you enter the lobby. It's glitzy, well decorated and laid out with faux marble floors.

This small casino has three table games - American Roulette, Black Jack and Caribbean Stud Poker and three hundred slot machines. Belizeans are fanatics about craps but you will not find these at the Princess. Gamblers know this is the one game where the player stands an even chance against the house. The casino has recently introduced a two-day Poker Tournament, dubbed Texas Hold-em held every March.

The Princes Casino is well maintained, clean, fully air-conditioned and has free drinks (comps) to help you get warmed up for a night of gambling. Belize has a sizeable Chinese community due to lax immigration policies favoring Asians, and this is often reflected in the casino's main clientele - Asians are notoriously fond of gambling.

The casino opens at noon and the slot machines jingle until 4 in the morning. There is even a small show featuring dancing Russian girls every night (we're not making this up!). Belizeans are not heavy gamblers - but they are picking up fast. Thus you will find a mixed clientele most days - Chinese, Belizeans, and Central Americans - including some attractive women playing the slot machines. For some unknown reason the few times we ventured into the casino there were almost no tourists.

On Wednesday most of the Russian dancers are bused 80 miles away to the small town of San Ignacio where there is a miniature Princess Casino located next to a hotel up the hill from the Fire Station. There they do a couple of shows to entice locals and tourists in that area. More information here on the Princess Hotel and Casino.

As for the rest of the country - casino action is steadily downhill from there. You can find "gaming rooms" in almost any city and town throughout Belize. Most of these are aimed at locals. They tend to be run-down and seedy, and are often attached or actually inside local Chinese greasy spoons. They are not recommended for visitors. Most of the slot machines are very old and some locals claim - rigged.

Ambergris Caye has a couple of mini-casinos, mostly a couple dozen slot machines and sometimes games of poker.

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