About CasinoNear and where the casino data comes from
CasinoNear is a directory of land-based casinos in the United States. It answers one practical question - where is the nearest casino, and what do I need to know before I drive there - for 1,059 venues across 45 states. It does not take bets, run games or rank casinos for payment.
Data sources
- Locations start from OpenStreetMap, the open map built by volunteers, available under the Open Database License. Every record carries its OpenStreetMap id, so a correction can be traced back to its source.
- Official licensee lists from state regulators are used where a state publishes one, to confirm which venues are real casino floors. Illinois, for example, is checked row by row against the Illinois Gaming Board's list of licensed casinos.
- Operators' own websites are used for venues the map does not tag as a casino, and for published opening hours.
- State law summaries on 45 state pages - regulator, minimum age, what types of venue exist - are checked against the regulator or the statute, and each one shows the date it was checked.
How venues are checked
Map data is edited by thousands of people, so a raw pull contains mistakes. Before a venue reaches a page it goes through four filters:
- Duplicates - the same casino mapped twice - are merged.
- Closed venues are removed once the closure is confirmed.
- Records that were never casinos - a skating rink or an office building tagged by mistake, or a charitable bingo hall - are taken out.
- Gaming terminal rooms - bars and cafes licensed for a handful of machines, common in Illinois and Nevada - stay findable but are labeled on their row and not counted as casinos.
What the numbers mean
A state's casino count is the number of venues left after those filters. Where the count has been matched against the regulator's own list the page says "All" (for example "All 17 casinos in Illinois"); elsewhere it states the number without claiming completeness. Opening hours appear only where a venue publishes them - when they are missing, the listing says so instead of guessing.
Corrections
If a casino is missing, closed, or listed in the wrong place, the quickest fix is to correct it on OpenStreetMap - the change reaches this directory on the next data refresh. For anything else, see the terms of use.
Play responsibly
Casinos are for adults of legal age, and the minimum age differs by state and venue. If gambling stops being fun, free and confidential help is listed on the responsible gambling page.