John...

If you are staying in Irvine, you can take the 241 toll road to the 91 west, stay on it for about 10 mins and you will come to the 15 S, which will take you to Pechanga, you can't miss the signs. It's not far off the freeway and is really worth the trip. I live in Tustin (next to Irvine) and can easily make it in 45 mins. A bit further down the same freeway (another 20 mins) is Pala, Casino Pauma, Harrah's Rincon, Valley View, Barona, and Viejas. Pechanga has recently doubled the size of their casino (open in Dec) and is beautiful. great place to stay or eat.

If you don't mind a couple hr trip there are at least seven other Indian Casinos in the Palm Springs/Indio area.

I personally haven't found the odds to be a bit different than vegas with the exception of the size of the Slot Jackpots, but they seem to be alot more payoffs, esp on weekend nights. I have personally seen SEVEN top limit jackpots on various machines in a ten min period....all in the thousands....

CA Chipping is here to stay...it's only going to get better from here :)

If you need any other info or more specific directions, please feel free to email me.