Come Visit The Best Place To Bet On Yankees Games: Ocean Casino Resort

Ocean Casino Resort is the perfect place to bet on the Yankees
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The New York Yankees are in the "play the kids" part of the season after falling out of postseason contention due to poor roster construction. 

However, there are still some reasons to both watch and bet on the Yankees, especially with Gerrit Cole leading the American League Cy Young voting -- which would be his first despite perennially being one of the best hurlers in the league. 

I recently visited the best place to gamble, both in the sportsbook and the casino floor. Ocean Casino Resort is right on the Jersey Shore Boardwalk, roughly 2 1/2 hours away from Yankee Stadium, a perfect weekend or even day trip. 

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.


Published
Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville is the publisher of Inside The Red Sox and Inside The Cardinals, as seen on Sports Illustrated. Before running his own sites, Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." Now Neville is adding the New York market to his arsenal as well as Boston and St. Louis. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu