The Golden Nugget - Laughlin, Nevada - A Smaller Casino Hotel With a Tropical Theme

At $42 a night for a premium upgrade room, a gambler can hardly complain about a stay at the Golden Nugget Laughlin - which, if it is two steps down from its rival hotel, the Tropicana Express, is a step up from most of the ten other casino resorts that line the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV. Though its standard rooms at $32 might compare with a Holiday Inn's, the $10 upgrade to premium sets the Golden Nugget apart.

The resort's theme - every resort has to have one - is vaguely tropical. Besides a Joe's Crab Shack, the Nugget boasts a nightclub called Tarzan's. If its palm trees don't exactly evoke the Monkey Man of Africa, the palms nevertheless qualify the bar as tropical in a place that sits in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

The Nugget is the smallest of Laughlin's ten casinos, only six stories high and with 300 rooms - compared to nearly 2,000 rooms at another of its neighbors, the Aquarius. Still, what more does one want from such a place than slot machines? The Nugget has those, as well as gambling tables and a Race and Sports Book. A gambling resort needs a steakhouse: the Golden Nugget offers up another tropically themed venue, the Saltgrass. For casual dining there's a restaurant called Harlow's. You can get a mound of pastrami at its deli. For coffee, you can turn to Starbucks.

Entertainment? Of course there's entertainment. At Tarzan's it's possible to dance - to live bands or to tunes laid down by the club's djs. There aren't any of the world class acts that you'll find at larger resorts, but there is a state-of-the-art sports bar. You can catch a water-taxi to Bullhead City across the river. The pool overlooking the Colorado River offers nicely appointed cabanas that will make you feel like a sheik in a tent in the desert. Its lawns are well manicured; its gardens are lush. It offers golf packages that will let you play at one of three area courses.

Visitors to the Golden Nugget have given the mixed reviews that are typical of stays at most hotels - from "Great value'' to "Hmmmmmmmmmm;'' from "All the rooms need NEW air conditioners'' and "Watch your credit cards'' (one guest reported that after swiping his card at the Nugget's deli, it was charged $2,000 for a cash advance at the Bellagio in Vegas) to "Nice stay;'' and from "Comfortable bed and pillows BUT..........'' (the riverview wasn't quite as advertised) to "Fantastic.''