Note: This story is part of a special HCN magazine issue devoted to travel in the West. The Navajo Nation's first casino opened in 2008 with a dramatic design -- a simple, massive structure shaped like a tent. Prominently located between Interstate 40 and the red-rock cliffs just east of Gallup, N.M., it's a shell of tensioned membrane more than two stories high, with a name that evokes its setting: Fire Rock. Inside the Fire Rock Casino, more than 700 slot machines are lined up throughout the dimly lit gaming floor with the precision of a manicured lawn. There are card tables at the far end, a food court and a stylish wood-motif restaurant called Cheii Grill & Pub, which attempts to lure families as well as gamblers with a weekly seafood buffet and a 20-foot-wide TV. The Navajo Nation's fourth casino, according to the tribe's plans, will be
Tribal casinos expand and go upscale
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