Come Visit The Best Place To Bet On Red Sox Games: Ocean Casino Resort
The Boston Red Sox are clinging onto playoff hopes as they sit 6 1/2 games back in the American League Wild Card race with 28 games left in the regular season.
As self-deemed underdogs, their odds of sliding into contention are dwindling but one good run could change the course of the entire season. For those who still believe in the Red Sox, the return on a bet to make the postseason would net lucrative odds. I recently visited the best place to gamble, both in the sportsbook and the casino floor.
Ocean Casino Resort trumps any sportsbook in Massachusetts and is the perfect place to spend a weekend betting on -- or against -- the Red Sox while enjoying a luxurious vacation for affordable pricing.
The resort is the heart of the Jersey Shore Boardwalk, 346 miles from Fenway Park -- roughly a six-hour drive or less-than-two-hour flight.
Ocean recently celebrated its five-year anniversary and is a must-see attraction for those in the Northeast region. The sportsbook and nightlife caught my eye -- and did not disappoint -- but the resort truly has something for everyone, from a high-end spa to pool days and of course, gambling. Let's start with the latter.
The Gallery
The most enticing aspect of the entire resort for most sports fans would be Ocean's sportsbook -- residing in the center of the casino floor, stocked with a 140-foot LED wall that surrounds the 12,000 square-foot venue including two unique bar areas.
The Gallery features a sportsbook desk to place bets with kiosks around the outside. Once you've stepped into the action, there is a center-placed bar with screens around the border so you cannot sit down without a premier view of the most prevalent games going on at the time.
The Balcony Bar
Placed directly above The Gallery, the Balcony Bar is the perfect spot for big events such as the Superbowl or title matches. There is a bar and high tops for everyone to enjoy, as well as private tables that give an incredible view of the aforementioned massive screens above The Gallery. After being given a tour of the casino, watching a big game at the Balcony Bar is on my bucket list.
The Casino
While checking out the sportsbook, it's quite easy to slide right over to the extensive casino floor, which includes 135,000 square feet of gaming space and is surrounded by all you can ask for -- food, sports betting, shops and nightlife.
Fine Dining
There are three fine dining options at Ocean, all of which can be found on the casino floor. Ocean Steak is a high-end steakhouse that was voted Best Steakhouse in Casino Player Magazine’s year of Best of Dining & Nightlife Awards for the second consecutive year.
Linguini By The Sea serves Italian cuisine with a view right out toward the Jersey Shore. This place had my entire group excited and did not disappoint -- especially the New York Strip.
Amada is the most unique of the three fine dining options and offers the experience of trying new food I previously did not know existed. The Mediterranean-style restaurant introduced me to both Entrecôte and Ibérico -- the former being a Wagyu NY Strip and the latter an incredible cut of pork.
For a more casual experience, the casino floor also offers Villian and Saint -- a gastropub -- right outside of a full food court.
Nightlife
One thing that stands out at Ocean is the nightlife. The cream of the crop is the HQ2 Nightclub, which stood out as one of the highlights of my trip to the resort.
Nola's Bar & Lounge offers a slightly more tame experience but will be filled to the brim on weekends with those looking to maximize their nights. We saw 3AM Tokyo perform, and while I typically prefer DJs over live music, they absolutely crushed and had the crowd going all night long. The bar stays open ironically until 3 a.m. on Friday/Saturday and it was packed until closing.
The 1927 Lounge, which was recently converted into a Birthday Pop-Up Bar to celebrate Ocean's fifth anniversary, boasts live music as well on occasion and was the most tame of the three bars we visited, which makes it the perfect pregame spot if you're looking to head to either aforementioned option.
There are also bars all around the rest of the resort, including in the lobby and a TopGolf Swing Suite.
Experience The Full Resort
Ocean Casino Resort is hard to summarize in just one post. I could have spent a month there and not experienced everything the resort had to offer.
Of the many highlights, the private cabana sections certainly stood out. The area offers table service in a decked-out cabana featuring a couch area with a coffee table opposite a television and a stocked mini-fridge as well as a secondary table with seating.
The private section comes with lounge chairs in front of two private pools and a hot tub for those in the cabana area that day. The view overlooks the Jersey Shore, though many responded to my Instagram story and thought I was on a tropical vacation.
If your goal is to relax on vacation, the cabanas are the best place in the resort to do so, especially in my case, as it was just hours after I left the nightclub.
The resort offers an indoor/outdoor eclipse pool for children and adults and a 21+ pool that turns into a beach club on the weekends. I spent most of my pool time in that section and was immensely grateful that kids were not allowed.
As I said before, this resort cannot be summarized into one post but I could not recommend it enough. Ocean is paving the way for the Jersey Shore to become an East-Coast Las Vegas, and if more casinos could compete with them, it already would be.
