Scouting the Best Race Books in Las Vegas

January 18th, 2017 by Dan Tordjman

The view north on the Vegas Strip. (Wikimedia Commons)

One of my best friends is getting married in March. His bachelor party – which I was in charge of planning – is this weekend… in (surprise, surprise) Las Vegas. We’ve got a couple of activities planned already and, truthfully, we’ll probably let the weekend push and pull us wherever it may.

But since we are going to be in Vegas (the home of the NTRA/DRF National Handicapping Championship next weekend at Treasure Island), I figured it might be a good opportunity to scope out some of the best race books to have a few drinks and lay some wagers down on a couple of races. Not knowing fully what to expect, I tweeted out that I was looking for opinions on the best race books.

So, I'm headed to Vegas this weekend. Best racebook is? GO...

— Danonymous Racing (@DanonymousMan) January 17, 2017

The responses? Well, there were lots of them! Here were my takeaways:

Everyone Values Something Different

Each sports book is “known for” one thing or another, and different customers choose their favorites based on different priorities. Some put a lot of stock in comfortable seats, others just wanted easy access to free drinks. Additional items to consider are ambiance, decor and the number of screens on which to watch racing and other sports.

Here are a few of the opinions shared by fellow racing tweeps:

@DanonymousMan Paris. Small quiet and lots of tellers

— Sean Feld (@Seaneff) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan I've been to them all. I'd say bellagio is the most plush. Caeser's is the most relaxed and biggest and the wynn great also.

— Patrick Masterpalo (@Pmasterpalo) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan Liked the Mirage for March Madness. Good size and awesome screen. Wynn seemed good for horses.

— eddyb38 (@eddyb38) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan Wynn and Mirage for horses...The new sportsbook at the Cosmo is pretty nice overall for eye candy and drinks. Good luck!

— Tom (@tjgalligan76) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan Bellagio gives you drink tickets for pretty much every $10 wagered on horses. So that's tough to beat

— Cory Hodskins (@coryhodskins) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan I was just in Red Rock last week, and I thought it was great.

— FiveDownTerritory (@FDTerritory) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan Very open, easy access to good food, very clear screens. I'm not much of a drinker, so I can't help you there. :)

— FiveDownTerritory (@FDTerritory) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan Caesars I also like south point plain simple

— Ladd Miller (@laddster5) January 18, 2017

Doing it Big

I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t really know much about the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino before this week but I was sold on it based on the video above and other tweets that people shot my way. The place looks massive! I’m so impressed that I think I’m going to attempt to reserve a spot at the Westgate book this weekend… I’ll let you know if I can even get in!

@DanonymousMan Westgate. Race AND sports. Absolutely outstanding.

— Ed Tucker (@Thoromanager) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan pic.twitter.com/4SgHOol1nG

— Ed Tucker (@Thoromanager) January 17, 2017

.@DanonymousMan @CopaCavanna @ThoroManager The Westgate, baby! #ManoWar pic.twitter.com/REG6z11oZO

— Connie (@MsVFAB) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan go to Westgate huge fairly new tv screens, bar. Great atmosphere and the horses tv screens well covered too

— in the woods lurking (@jtim11) January 18, 2017

Wild Cards

If I knew very little about Westgate before this week, I knew absolutely nothing about some of the other locations that other people mentioned. One of the spots I uncovered is Green Valley Ranch. Check out some of pictures from this place – pretty impressive.

@DanonymousMan My choice book is @GVRcasino for the folks who run it, Bert Cirincione and Celena Sams. Just wonderful people.

— Jimbo Matthews (@Jimbo_on_Tbreds) January 17, 2017

Perhaps a little less of a wild card is South Point, which got rave reviews from a number of people.

@DanonymousMan South Point the best racebook Bright lightening where you can actually read the form.

— joseph donahue (@joetompatrick) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan. Always found it to be generous with drinks . The racebook is in its own section and feels like it's for horseplayers.

— joseph donahue (@joetompatrick) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan as many have said South Point for horses... and Mr Mamas for breakfast

— Moe (@PVMoe) January 17, 2017

And A Few Others…

@DanonymousMan Sams Town

— RazorbackMike (@SbrbnHandicaper) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan Very nice set up, it's off the strip. Great rewards with players card. Your own seat & TV. Drinks/Food at your seat

— RazorbackMike (@SbrbnHandicaper) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan love the Gold Coast . Try the mans bay also. Best mgr is the guy at Wynn or Venetian. He used to do shows for hrtv.

— timothy bigham (@bighamtimothy) January 17, 2017

The Most Votes Went to … The Wynn

While opinion was varied, the Wynn Las Vegas got a bunch of endorsements from most horseplayers. The Wynn’s book is clean, spacious, comfortable and offers great views of the races. It’s also THE spot for making future wagers on Kentucky Derby contenders – which is a huge reason why I’m insisting that our bachelor party make a stop at the Wynn. The staff and management also have a reputation for being very friendly to horse bettors.

@DanonymousMan my dad's been to the Wynn several times. Large, luxurious seating, oozes class. Can't recommend highly enough.

— Robert M. Criscola (@itsgood2beking) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan it's the @WynnLasVegas and it's not close

— Ed DeRosa (@EJXD2) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan @bighamtimothy Johnny Avello runs Wynn race and sports with manager Doug Castaneda. Both accommodating to horse bettors.

— MattyBats (@mattyb_ats) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan Wynn, and you can get an app and bet from your phone or ipad and not get in line

— Al Roehl (@AlRoehlSports) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan @WynnLasVegas caters to Horse Players, you need to introduce yourself to Johnny Avello the director. He's a horse guy!

— Kenny Schmitt (@fbwinners) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan and the BEST place to celebrate a big score. SW Steakhouse @WynnLasVegas go for the food and stay for the fountain show.

— Christopher Ado (@christopherado) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan Wynn! Only one I found with Derby future wagers too

— Jason Heidl (@JasonHeidl) January 18, 2017

Honorable Mention

The Mirage gets many thumbs up from horseplayers. All in all, it probably ranks right behind the Wynn as the most popular race book, based at least on our not-so-scientific Twitter survey.

@DanonymousMan Mirage & Wynn, The M has a great sports book as well but off the strip.

— Tyler Gaines (@TDGaines) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan The Mirage. Fellini's at the Stratosphere has the best Italian food in town.

— Paul (@PaulRome47) January 18, 2017

@DanonymousMan Mirage and it's not even close

— Chad Ahrenstorff (@cstorff3) January 17, 2017

@DanonymousMan haven't been in a decade but Wynn and Mirage were my favorites. The latter has a California Pizza Kitchen adjacent, very nice

— peterjborrelli (@peterjborrelli) January 18, 2017