I know that the USA Today poll named Pechanga the best casino in the USA but I have a hard time believing it's really the best. And last night I met up with some friends who said they wanted to try out the local casinos here in Southern California. All of them have been to casinos in Vegas -- NONE is devoted to any Vegas rewards program as they are all "casual" players. That means they aren't looking for any comp programs that will help them when they do go to Vegas.

They are also not looking to spend a night in a hotel -- they just want to get in the car and drive to play for a few hours, mostly slots and video poker.

For ease of travel I recommended two casinos:

Morongo which is actually closest from Los Angeles, and Pechanga which is just a few minutes longer in the car but it is larger and has more of the better video poker.

Pala I couldn't recommend over Pechanga, and of course I wouldn't recommend Rincon to anyone based on their poor video poker AND that it's an extra 15-20 minute drive from Pechanga. Because of the extra travel I couldn't recommend Valley View or Barona either.

We discussed the Palm Springs casinos but that adds another hour to the drive beyond Morongo and I've been to the PS casinos and their video poker is not that good and the casinos are relatively small.

I was in San Manuel once but the video poker was not good and it had the appearance of a cramped slot hall.

Does it come down to Morongo and Pechanga for the best casinos in Southern California?