While there are numerous small slot-only casinos around town, there are three major, Las Vegas style casinos that capture the vast bulk of the Houston area gambling crowd. Lake Charles is a city of around 75,000 people located 20 miles east of the Texas/Louisiana border. Depending on when you leave, the drive (from downtown Houston) to these closest casinos takes from between 2 and 2 ½ hours. The drive from Houston to Lake Charles is entirely on Interstate 10. Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Lake Charles Also, there are a few slot-machine only casinos a little closer, but the Houstonian looking for a traditional full gambling experience will have to travel to Lake Charles, Louisiana, 143 miles from downtown Houston. Visitors and residents to America’s 4th largest city will have to travel a bit if they want to scratch their gambling itch, as the closest casino to Houston is 143 miles away.Īnd here were talking about real public casinos, with slot machines, table games, sportsbooks, restaurants, entertainment venues and the like.

Where is the nearest casino to me