I agree with most of the reviews, except that the payouts have gotten increasingly worse with the renovations.

I also live in Atlanta and have no idea what casino John is referring to that is only 3 hours away, but please let me know! I like to drive up for the day on the weekends - beautiful drive, great scenery, but the gaming sucks.

It's really not gaming - it's just taking. Are there any regulations as to what the percentage of return should be? Complete waste of time, other GAMING destinations at least make it fun. At Cherokee, you just feed the machines money.

Went here with a friend who lives in NC, and it's the only casino in the state. We could not a get a room (it's almost impossible on a weekend), and stayed about 5 miles away.

The casino is very large, and was packed while we were there. The atmosphere was not as good as Reno (my favorite) or Vegas (not by a long shot!). It was VERY smoky. I'd say 95% of all the people there smoked, so we were thankful for the small non-smoking casino room.

We tried very hard to have a good time, but we both lost $300 on nickel and penny slots in the first hour or so. Also, not a lot of popular slot titles. We were looking forward to playing Monopoly slots or Wizard of Oz slots, and they had only two machines for each title and they were constantly busy with people waiting behind you for you to get off the machine (not conducive to a great time!).

I have never lost so much money in such a short space of time, and got very few bonus rounds on the video slots. We ate at the "upscale" restaurant, and found it to be okay, but mediocre, however, probably your safest bet compared to some of the dives we tried in Cherokee!

I would not recommend this casino if you are intending to spend most of your stay gambling; you won't be able to afford it!

We live in NC so this is the only game in town. As a result we make a couple of trips there a year but take advantage of junkets or drive to Atlantic City, Vegas, Connecticut, Laughlin, Reno and Tunica whenever we can.

Pay out is poor (At best) Accomodations are expensive for the area. Harrah's hotel is nice if you can get a room (Which is nearly impossible on the weekend), and the food is average.

There is virtually NOTHING else to do in the area as you are in the middle of NOWHERE. Our bank roll goes very fast here. Service is exceptable but nothing to write home about! There is no alcohol served per state law so you cannot drown your sorrows after you lose all of your money.

We are smokers so we like that they still have a large are for us but they also have a large non smoking casino as well. They do offer some quality entertainment which is nice but not worth the $1000 a day it costs us in the casino! We've been going there for 10 years and the machine pay outs are far worse now than they were then.

They now have mostly "Raffle Reel" machine which are a sure way to lose your money quickly. We had much more luck with the old "Lock and Roll" machines. The only machines paying out are the ATMs. Seems that everyone has gotten greedy so we have started to spend our money elsewhere! If you are planning on visiting...bring lots of money or don't plan on staying long!

Hotel is relatively new and very nice. Good housekeeping staff. Always friendly and make you feel welcome. I would only rate the food as OK. Service at times can be slow. This hotel casino has a problem finding staff at times which can lead to empty tables and people waiting.

The casino leaves a great deal to be desired-some fixable and some is "legislated" as per the deal with NC. One thing that is legislated in is the method of play for blackjack. Cherokee is NOT your typical video blackjack but a standard Vegas style game using a video screen as a substitute for the shoe. Six decks are in the "video shoe" and approx. 3 are delt out after the cut. Each player has his own little video screen where the cards values appear. The betting is handled like a normal casino and the rules are Vegas strip minus surrender. The betting limits are from $10 up to $100(+?) with the majority being $15. Lately some of the tables at the $10 limit have gone to hitting on soft 17-a sign of the economic times. Air quality in the casino is pure cigarette smoke. One of the worst I've been in.

You also can't drown your sorrows after you threw your money away on the slots as there is no alcohol served.(This IS Baptist country you know!) The casino is due for a complete rebuild (along with a convention center and hotel expansion). Hopefully,  a more realistic, complete set of casino games will be offered along with a much better ventilation system.

Mixed feelings on this Casino. First, let me say that the hotel accomodations are absolutely wonderful! The hotel is very clean. Staff is friendly and helpful. Rooms were great. Indoor pool and gym were suprisingly very nice and easily accessible. Had the most fun in the hotel game room playing air hockey.This casino is litteraly in the middle of the mountains. Great views, clean air. The buffet was fantastic! The free drinks are a great idea..don't have to sit around for a waitress to offer it up.

As for the gaming... Sub-par at best. If you don't mind sitting at a video game using little or no brain activity, its great. Not a single card being dealt in this casino. Everything is video. Certainly would be nice to see a live poker room(poker being the only skill game in the casino). I did hear people winning over the loudspeaker but personally did not see anyone jumping up and down. I got a free room comp through Harrahs Total rewards, so all is not lost. If you want a nice place to stay and view the mountains...great place. As for gaming, you might as well hand over your cash at the door.

This is the absolute worst casino I have ever been to. We live in Atlanta exactly equidistant between this and another casino and the payout percentage at other Casino is exponentially better.

We take 250 dollars to the other casino and either win or play till the wee hours of the morning. 250 dollars at Harrah'ss Cherokee (playing the same types of games and betting all denominations) lasts about two hours TOPS!

At first we thought it was our imagination but we did a two month experiment alternating between the two casinos and without fail we constitently had so much of a better time at the other casino that we concluded that this was not just bad luck or the machines at Cherokee being on a bad cycle.

We tried everything from penny to dollar slots and hands down Harrah's Cherokee had the worst payout I have ever seen anywhere. It's really pathetic that the people who have no other casino in the area have to go to Harrah's Cherokee.