Closest Casino Near Austin, Texas

It has the Texas state capitol, the famous 6th Street music scene, and a bustling university with over 50,000 students.

But it doesn’t have a casino.

The WinStar World Casino Resort is the closest casino to Austin, Texas
The WinStar World Casino Resort is the closest casino to Austin, Texas

As such, the closest casino to Austin, Texas is the WinStar World Casino & Resort, in Thackerville, Oklahoma, right past the Texas/Oklahoma border.

This casino is 262 miles from downtown Austin.

Casino Near Austin

The drive is a simply northbound I-35 shot all the way there. However it would take you between 3 hours, 50 minutes to 4.5 hours. On busy Friday afternoons, it can take a little over 5 hours to reach the WinStar.

Once you get there, however, you’ll find yourself at the largest casino in the United States, with nearly 400,000 square feet of gaming space.

There are 8,600 slot machines at the WinStar
There are 8,600 slot machines at the WinStar

The WinStar has 8,600 slots and other electronic games, 100 table games, (including craps, blackjack, baccarat and the like), keno, an off-track betting parlor and a 55 table poker room.

In addition to a 1,400 hotel rooms, the resort has a huge events center, convention center, bars, lounges, pools a spa and 17 restaurants.

(Here’s a map of the casinos nearest to Austin. Yellow represents the WinStar, Orange is the Choctaw Casino. The Blue pin represents the three casinos in Lake Charles, while Black is the Lucky Eagle Casino).

Other Casinos Close to Austin

Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino (Black pin)

Technically speaking, there is a casino closer to Austin than the WinStar. However since it doesn’t have table games nor traditional slots and video poker machines, we haven’t labeled it as the closest one.

It’s the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel, 228 miles southwest of Austin on the Mexican border. The drive on I-35 south would take you between 3 ½ and 4 ½ hours, depending on traffic.

While the casino hotel is modern, and has a nice hotel, restaurants and bars, it only has bingo, and class 2 style gaming machines that are bingo-based, rather than the standard slot machines and video poker machines found at “normal casinos.”

The Kickapoo Lucky Eagle, does, however, have a regular poker room.

Choctaw Casino Resort (Orange Pin)

Like the WinStar, the Choctaw Casino Resort is a large, Vegas-style southern Oklahoma casino popular with Texas gamblers.

The Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma is 286 miles from downtown Austin.
The Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma is 286 miles from downtown Austin.

The Choctaw, located in Durant, Oklahoma, is 286 miles from the center of Austin. According to Google maps, the drive would take from between 4 to 5 ½ hours.

Although not as large as the WinStar, the Choctaw is a massive, sparkling resort in its own right, and is one of the top 10 biggest casinos in the United States, with 300,000 square feet of casino floor space, on which you’ll find 7,400 gaming machines, 100 live table games and a 25 table poker room.

The 2021 expansion brings the resort hotel room count to 1,700. There are also arcades, bowling alleys, movie theaters, 13 restaurants, ten 5 bars, a concert venue and more.

Lake Charles, LA. Casinos (Blue pin)

The next closest casinos to Austin are three large Vegas-style resorts in the town of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The Isle of Capri, Golden Nugget Lake Charles and the L’Auberge are all modern hotel/casinos with plenty of games, restaurants and entertainment options.

The Golden Nugget and L’Auberge in particular, are especially nice. Both have over a thousand rooms apiece, thousands of slots, plenty of table games and amenities such as a spa and golf course.

The L'Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles
The L’Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles

These however, are just over 300 miles from Austin (307 to be exact), which equal a drive time of between 4 and ½ and 5 ½ hours.

Austin Poker Room

Despite the lack of legalized gambling in and around Austin, the city does have some card room.

They are card and social clubs, in which you pay a membership fee and hourly fee ($9 per hour) for the opportunity to play Texas Hold’em cash games and tournaments.

One such establishment is called the Texas Card House, and its website claims to be completely legal. There is no rake, nor is their tipping allowed.

Cash games include $1/2 and $2/5 No-limit hold’em and some pot limit Omaha games. There are also a few tournaments held throughout the week.

Address:

11907 Manchaca Road
Austin, TX. 78748

Another club is in Round Rock. Called the Lodge Card Club, it calls itself the largest poker room in Texas, and has 20 tables.

The Lodge has the same $9 per hour club access fee but also offers yearly memberships rates whereupon a daily membership fee of $10 is applied.

Address:

1401 S. Interstate 35 #120
Round Rock, TX. 78664

One last note, there are some other casinos on I-10 on the way to Lake Charles that are under 300 miles from Austin, however all of these (including the Delta Downs Racetrack and Casino), are slots-only casinos.

(By Steve Beauregard. Photos courtesy of the Oklahoma Tourism Department.)