"If there’s one true thing about casinos, it’s that they all feel alike.

Walk through that big smoked-glass door and you know where you are in an instant. The casino floor, where the money is won and lost, could be just about anywhere. Day is indistinguishable from night. Cocktail waitresses prowl carpeted aisles between the slot machines, and neon lights flash. Digital beeps drone incessantly, and the rat-tat-tat of coins on metal reminds the losers that somebody else is winning.

But not in San Diego. The gaming-est county in the Golden State, this stretch of sunny real estate has 17 Native American reservations, 10 of them with casinos, most in scenic rural valleys. I’m not much of a gambler, but I’ve tempted Lady Luck in some of these places and gone away with the odd feeling that while I’d lost money, I’d actually done something useful.

Some American Indian casinos are as simple as a gaming hall with a restaurant; others are complete resorts. Many of the tribes spend their profits on their members, providing attractive homes, building schools and community centers, surfacing roads, installing water reclamation plants and paying for health insurance and college scholarships.

But San Diego’s most successful casinos also give away millions of dollars to nearby communities, not just because their legal compacts compel charitable donations (which they do), but because they’re good neighbors. My current fave, Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino, gives to local hospitals, sponsors foundations, builds football stadiums for nearby high schools and awards large and small grants to college students."

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BET on a great vacation (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11/16)