Draw a circle of roughly two and a quarter hours' driving around downtown Birmingham and it takes in four gaming floors holding well over 5,000 machines between them. Not one of those machines is a slot machine. The Birmingham Race Course and VictoryLand run historical horse racing terminals, which settle each bet as a pari-mutuel wager on a race that has already been run. The two Wind Creek resorts run electronic bingo, where the spinning reels sit on top of a bingo draw. On the screen they look the same as a Las Vegas cabinet. Underneath, none of them is, and there is not a dealt card or a roulette wheel anywhere in the circle.
So a Birmingham player is really choosing between a quick evening and an overnight trip.
The one in town
The Birmingham Race Course is the answer to "is there a casino in Birmingham". It sits off I-459 east of downtown, about 20 minutes from the city centre by our estimate, with more than 300 HHR machines, a year-round simulcast room and a floor that Google lists as open 24 hours. Our venue page covers the visit itself. Two things matter for comparing it with the drive options: it has no hotel, and it sets its own minimum age under the pari-mutuel framework, so check the posted policy before you take anyone under 21.
Since April 2025 it has also shared an owner with the resorts down the interstate. Wind Creek Hospitality, the gaming arm of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, completed its purchase of the track from the McGregor family that month.
How far each option is
We estimated drive times with the OSRM open-source router, from downtown Birmingham to each venue's address, with no allowance for traffic. Treat them as a floor: a Friday evening on I-65 will run longer.
| Venue | Road distance | Estimated drive | Machine type | Hotel |
| Birmingham Race Course | About 12 miles | About 20 minutes | HHR, 300+ | None |
| Wind Creek Wetumpka | About 95 miles | About 1 hour 55 minutes | Electronic bingo, 2,000+ | 283 rooms |
| Wind Creek Montgomery | About 104 miles | About 2 hours 5 minutes | Electronic bingo, about 2,200 | 123 rooms |
| VictoryLand | About 113 miles | About 2 hours 10 minutes | HHR, around 500 | None open |
Wetumpka: the overnight option
If the plan involves a room, Wetumpka is the trip. Its 20-storey tower on the Coosa River is the tallest casino hotel in Alabama, every one of its 283 rooms faces the river, and the hotel holds a AAA Four Diamond rating. The gaming space is 85,000 square feet, the largest in the state; Wind Creek's own material says over 2,000 games, and the opening press release counted 2,520. It rates 4.3 from nearly 23,000 Google reviews. The minimum age on the floor is 21 with ID, though the hotel, pool and restaurants admit anyone.
The address is 100 River Oaks Drive off US-231.
Montgomery and VictoryLand: an evening in the River Region
Wind Creek Montgomery sits about ten minutes further than Wetumpka by our estimate and offers a different evening. Its pull is B.B. King's Blues Club, a recreation of Beale Street built indoors with the $65 million expansion of December 2015, with bands from early evening seven nights a week. The floor is 65,000 square feet with roughly 2,200 machines, a high-limit room and a separate non-smoking room.
VictoryLand at Shorter, exit 22 on I-85, is 16 miles east of Wind Creek Montgomery. It is the one floor in the circle that the Wind Creek purchase did not touch: the McGregor family kept it when they sold the Birmingham track. Its HHR floor is the same machine type as the Race Course, so the drive adds little for gaming alone.
Which drive makes sense
- A couple of hours after work: the Race Course. Nothing else is close.
- A weekend with a pool and a steak: Wetumpka.
- Live music with the gaming: Montgomery.
- A dealt hand of blackjack or a poker game: none of the above. Alabama law does not provide for live table games anywhere in the state, so that trip leaves Alabama.
Why the map looks like this
Alabama has no commercial casino, no state lottery and no sports betting. SB 257, which would have put a lottery, casino gaming and sports betting to a referendum, stalled in committee before the Legislature adjourned in March 2026. The Poarch Band has no gaming compact with the state, which limits Wind Creek to Class II bingo and its electronic forms. Our overview of casinos in Alabama covers all five floors, and our explainer on Alabama casino machines sets out how bingo and HHR games settle.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a casino in Birmingham, Alabama?
Yes, one: the Birmingham Race Course off I-459, with more than 300 HHR machines and simulcast wagering.
What is the closest casino hotel to Birmingham?
Wind Creek Wetumpka, about an hour and 55 minutes south by our estimate, with 283 river-view rooms.
Are there table games near Birmingham?
No. None of the four floors within a little over two hours has live tables or a poker room.
For playing from home instead, see our Alabama sweepstakes rankings.
