Great Lakes Review
Based on past trips to northern Michigan

This hotel/casino is very nice place. Great dining options and a well run facility customer service wise. The staff is very friendly.

The downside is the slots seem to be extremely tight, and I've never had much luck on the table games either. As a previous reviewer mentioned, lots of multi card 20's and 21's for the dealers on Blackjack tables.

I normally don't spend much time at this place. I mostly dine there, play a few hands at the tables and get out. Not the best casino in Northern Michigan!

Been going to the River for years and have gradually seen the place drop in overall value. The slots used to be set so you could play a long time and not lose your shirt. But now I guess with the bad economy they really have tightened them up. You rarely see many big winners anymore - a lot of tease type machines but nothing else. As for selection the machines are good - you will find many of the popular titles and more but they are almost all tight. Once and a while you will find one that will pay a few dollars but they are few and far between.

Table games dealers are almost all very friendly but they use automatic shuffle machines on the blackjack and I have never seen a dealer make more multi-card 20 or 21 hands ever. You see a lot of cards like 6 and 5 or 8 and 3 running together so the dealer seems to make a lot of 21's. They call it a random shuffle but it really doesn't appear to be. Like I said the dealers are very friendly - the one good thing....and if you get on the right "run" you can make some money on the tables.

The restaurants are pretty good - about 4.5 out of 5 stars. The wait staff in the casino is not good - they don't come around often and when they do it will be mixed up sometimes like deliver you a diet pepsi instead of regular. 2 stars out of 5 for the wait staff in the casino. As for the food it is quite good - they have a great steak menu and 3 different restaurants and a coffee bar to choose from plus Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream.....so that is very good overall with reasonable prices. The last 6-8 months they run a midnight-4am special for $1.99 steak and eggs plus hash browns and toast. Granted it is a small steak (4 oz.) but a good plate of food and only $1.99 can't be beat.

The hotel is still the best part of the place - awesome rooms always clean and kept up well. The comforters and pillows are awesome - soft and clean with just an ever so light scent of bleach to show they are all clean and fresh. Nice showers and bathroom, flat screen tv's in most rooms, and 2 times I have stayed in the suites and they are even better - double fireplace in the living room area and bedroom - whirlpool in the room - again just awesome and never even a speck of dust to be found. 5 out of 5 stars for the hotel.

Overall it is a nice place - food and hotel very good - the casino used to be just as awesome but the last 18 months or so it had dropped little by little.....too bad because it was my favorite place to go for a couple years.....now I will go about 2-3 times per year instead of at least once a month......up the payout % of slots and get rid of the automatic shufflers on blackjack and you will be back to 4.5 stars out of 5 again.....:)

They say "more fun at Little River", I sure would like to know who is. today was all sad faces at Little River. I was one of them. $200 and not one hit along with many others. I did not see one win large enough to be jumping up an down. They are suppose to be a 75% but it sure seemed like a 45% pay back.
Think I'll go to four winns from now on, at lease I can jump up and down with a win.
Did not play the tables, customer service was poor, no drink served, did not use players club, did not stay. Arived at 2 left at 4. Some fun !

Took a trip to LRC and that was a bad idea. Arrive their at 4:30pm. Very few people there. A drawing a 5pm was about to start. I didn't bother entering, I never get called anyway. So, I tried my 5 quarter slot but lost both times. Tried a few more and not a hit. Played video poker. I remembered watching the video at the top on of this page on video poker, so I tried that. It seem to work what he said but i got bored playing. I won more ofter doing what the guy said. I should have kept playing. Instead, I played the 2 coin 50 cent slot and lost. That's when I decided t leave. 2 hours of losing is enough. Slots were not paying out. Few people there when I left. Did not play tables. Did not use players club or stay in the motel. Don't play on Wednesdays !

Went to LRC around 4:30pm, thought I'd try my luck. I didn't have any luck at all ! I saw only one guy win a large amount the rest were all losers. Including me, I played the 5 quarter slots most of the time and non were hitting. Although, Stayed for 2 hours.
i watched the video of how to play the video poker and it does work, only i didn't stay on it very long. I didn't stay in the motel or use the players club. Wasn't offered any drinks. Food is always good. They had some drawing going on but they never pick me. 5/12/2011

We absolutely love Little River. We make the trip from metro Detroit 2 - 3 times per year. I am a slot player, I don't play the table games so ignore the rating. I won my very first jackpot at LRCR $2500.00 and was hooked. We went twice in 2010 hit for $900 on my birthday and $2500.00 in August. The hotel is great. The rooms are always clean and the staff is professional and very friendly. The restaurants are good, not happy that they went strictly buffet at the Willows restaurant. I prefer to order exactly what I want. The wait staff is always very professional, attentive, and wants to make sure everything is perfect. LRCR has really good comps as well. I haven't had to pay for a room or meal in years. Between our comps we always have enough to cover a 2 - 3 night stay. Cash back is one of the best in the state. I can count on receiving anywhere from $80 - $100 in cash to add to my bankroll. My husbands only complaint is they took away the poker room. He's not much of a machine player.

Stayed 2 nights. Very Beautiful casino. well layed out. Great staff. Room was as nice as most inexpensive rooms in Las Vegas. Great mix of new slots. Food was not exceptional but good. Nice breakfast buffet at reasonable price.

Visited Little River last fall and was pleased to find a bank of 9-6 JOB Video Poker games as well as $5 minimum Blackjack tables.

For those who don't know, video poker odds are posted on the machines. A 9-6 machine will return 9 credits for a full house and 6 credits for a flush and is considered a "full-pay" machine. The long haul return is 99.55% (if you play long enough to get a Royal Flush anyway).

Wife and I recently (July 2010) made reservations for two nights, expecting to pound the VP machines and hit the BJ tables if we got bored . We arrived and checked in, explored the facilities, then hit the casino - BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!! The 9-6 machines were gone - replaced, for the most part, with 7-5 odds (only a 96.15% return).

The casino has obviously tightened up. And if the VP odds are tighter one would expect the slots are also. We were bummed out - especially after committing for two nights.

Don't get me wrong, even on a fair return machine, one still needs to be lucky to win. Making a long story short, We thought our luck might overcome the poor pay tables (HA-HA), but the luck was poor and the poor payouts shortened our fun money too quickly. I resorted to blackjack - evening play only, the wife boycotted completely and resorted to visiting relatives in the area. At the BJ tables, I ended up $100 the first night, lost $300 the next.

Other than gaming, the property was first rate. Reasonable prices for food and the grounds are well-kept. Our room had a small balcony - really small, little more than a fenced in ledge, but still nice. The help was friendly and professional.



I have a nice air conditioned house with a pool and big HD TV. Our local restaurants are fine. The only reason I go to a casino is to to gamble. If the odds locally are poor, I will save my money and go to Vegas instead. And, for now, that's the plan.

I went there a few months ago and only played the slots. When we were about to leave, I hit a slot for $1,800. First and only time I've ever walked out of any casino with more money than I started with. When I won, an attendant came over to the machine. She left and came back with someone else like five minutes later. I filled out the paperwork and got my money. Then they said it was customary to play one more spin to reset the reels. So, I did. Well, I attempted to. I put a quarter in, pulled the lever and nothing happened. They opened the machine back up and were trying to figure out what was wrong with it. They said that the machine malfunctioned. I was starting to worry that this would void my win, so I got out of there as fast as I could. lol. It was a great place, but don't take out your cell phone to make a call. I made that mistake. They thought I was taking pictures of the slots or something. A security guard demanded to see my phone and look through all of my pictures that I have saved on it. No big deal, I guess. I just thought they overreacted.

Went there on the motorcycles last weekend with a group of five, out of us five not one could hit on a machine. I spent $150 in a four hour period and hit nothing. My favorite place is Odawa in Petoski nice!!!

Stayed in Manistee x 2 nights and I visited this casino twice. I played slots a long time both nights & didn't lose any money. Probably just a lucky 2 nights, but this rarely happens to me so I consider this casino as loose as any Las Vegas downtown casino. Slots are a variety of the newer slots like Wizard of Oz (ticket-in) plus older machines with coin payout. (System doesn't allow "n/a" so ignore the ratings for table games -I don't play them.) I didn't stay here, but from the outside & lobby this hotel looks very nice & I would definitely stay here if I was in the area. I only ate at the deli which was fine. Hotel rates are at least 1/2 the rates of the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI. Would actually consider a (5-6 hour) drive from NW Chicago suburbs just to stay here.

My husband and I stayed at the Little River RV Park last July and had a great time. The RV Park is a great value with all the hotel perks.

As long as a casino will let me play on my money it is all good, but this time out I actually left up a few bucks. I didn't like having to wait for someone to come give a payout slip on a few of the machines as it took forever.

Little River was still paying out in coins on 99% of the machines, but on the few that weren't you had to wait for a floor attendant.

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I feel they provide very good comps and the popcorn and beverage service is great! They seem to pay off a little better than other casinos in the state.

This casino has a wonderful selection of slot machines and they seem to pay off better than other Indian Casinos in Michigan.



They also have free drink dispensers so you don't have to wait for someone if you want a sodapop or water.



I'm not crazy about their restaurants. They're usually under "repair", leaving just the buffet as a choice.

I have always enjoyed visiting Little River. I may not win every time, but have always had fun playing the many different slots and blackjack.



They are friendly there, and have comps for everyone.

Very nice casino with a good hotel attached. I've been there 5 times and won more than $500 two of those times.



The first time I got $854 on a slot still on the $5 they give you when you get there. The payout lady shorted me by $100, I only counted the big bills. After a few minutes they called me to the players club and gave me the $100, apparently security noticed the payout and informed management. So Little River is also an honest casino too.



They also have free country Western dance lessons on Monday nights in the bar and good Pizza.