This is the third incarnation of this series, and I’m sticking to Michigan as I discuss more of the local gaming establishments.
TURTLE CREEK CASINO & HOTEL:
This will start with a pair of related facilities that are run by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians up in the general vicinity of Traverse City, Michigan. For those who are not from here, Traverse City is located in the northern part of the lower peninsula of the state. It’s right along Lake Michigan and is a major resort town drawing heavily from metro Chicago and throughout the state of Michigan, as well as other surrounding states and even at the national level. It’s known for fruit, more specifically cherries, though wine is readily grown here as 2well. Regionally, Traverse City (along with other shore towns in the vicinity like Charlevoix and Petoskey) are big deals.
Turtle Creek and Leelanau Sands share not only management, but a player unfriendly perspective to the games themselves. By far, they have some of the tightest slots I’ve encountered in the state. Table games don’t have particularly good rules, and video poker is not great though VPfree2 alleges we should find 99.54% JoB there. I was not so lucky in my last visit with finding those. It is the biggest and fanciest of the casinos in this part of the state (assuming you have it separate from Little River), and I will give them credit in having a water fall in the gaming area. I see on YouTube that they have updated their rooms, and that further separates them from the competition.
I have only played here once or twice and not heavily so; that said, their comps weren’t mind blowing in what we’ve been offered. Honestly, I don’t think I would go except to vulture.
LEELANAU SANDS CASINO & LODGE:
We got a heavily discounted room here about two years ago as a comp, and as lower limit players, we were excited to come up for a weekend in the gorgeous peninsula-within-a-peninsula that it sits on. I think we paid $49? Rooms aren’t available on aggregators or online period, so you’re guessing at prices but keep in mind we were here on a Saturday in peak season. We were fine with this, having probably lost $250 in a prior session during my Mom’s visit over the summer.
To make a long story short, I understand variance and that you will have bad beats with slots. If you’re burning through $500 cash playing $1-$2 spins within an hour, that’s probably about as low of return to player that you can find. I got multiple bonus rounds that paid literally nothing. I triggered bonuses and lost money on the play. Now, had we been video poker players at the time, maybe we do better. VPFree2 shows 3 quarter game Double Bonus pay tables existing. But that’s not a lot.
Really, what is “a lot” here? This is a small casino floor in a long building where the end closest to the hotel (which is unattached, uphill, with stairs) is the area’s big bingo hall. The games are sparsely set up, and there was practically no one here in July or September 2021 when we visited. A snack bar is located in here with the most basic of goods. Want snacks or beverages? A convenience store is across the two lane road. It’s a short walk.
The hotel rooms themselves were clean, and in a building sorta like a Best Western quality facility. Balconies were present. Inside, things were decently appointed: heavy 1990s feel for decor but that’s not inherently bad. Off the south end of the hotel building was a big wood deck with views of the bay. That’s a big selling point to this place.
Having been absolutely smushed in our session, our next comp offer was for something like $5 in snacks and $5 in free play. We’ve never gone back. I might never go back.
ODAWA CASINO (Petoskey, MI): Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians have two gaming facilities within an hour of each other, with the Petoskey location being their flagship. Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first:
-There are 3 good video poker machines, all CRT screen standups that look like they are as old as me, all located to the left of the main entrance. I actually think the Ultimate X machine may be set up basically identically for JoB as the three other machines and simply hasn’t been reported as such, but I didn’t intend to play much there in the first place.
-People who know the relevance of “There are two Regal Riches machines, two Rich Little Piggies, four Life of Luxury Hot Diamonds machines, and four Buffalo Ascension” will understand it and those who don’t won’t. Only Life of Luxury was in a position of actually maybe being positive and that gamble did not work out.
We actually came right in at opening on a Sunday after having gotten beat for to see if we could pull anything of value and nah. That’s life. We probably went through about $300 or so of our money playing persistent state games and video poker across two days, and in return the offers I received this month are for 2 night stays at the price of $150, Sunday-Thursday night, in the month of December + $10 free play and dining credit. The hotel is a 2 1/2 star looking place that is not even within walking distance of the gaming floor: it gets OK ratings and looks late 90sish in design/decor. Hours are 9AM-2AM on weekends and 9AM-Midnight midweek. Hours for casinos are strange.
ODAWA CASINO (Mackinaw City, MI):
(photo by a Kevin Gilbert as submitted to Google Maps)
Odawa has a second outpost south of Mackinac City; there’s nothing special about this place. Floor is under 10K square feet, there’s 200 or so video slots and video poker machines in both smoking and non-smoking zones delineated by glass walls/sliding doors. Our most recent wander in here was in October 2023 looking for advantage plays. I will tell you that there are very few relevant machines for people seeking AP opportunities. Video poker paytables are “fine, but nothing exciting” as I recall them and somewhere in the 96-97% RTP range. I don’t think they had Ultimate X machines. We only played here on our drive back into the Lower Peninsula during our COVID Road Trip of 2020.
PRIOR ENTRIES:
Volume 1: Soaring Eagle (Mount Pleasant, Michigan) and Firekeepers (Battle Creek, Michigan)
Volume 2: Gun Lake Casino (Wayland, Michigan), Little River Casino (Manistee, Michigan)