When it comes to casinos, everybody knows old people rule that world. Or, at the very least, it's where you'll find more senior citizens than just about anywhere outside of an old folks' home.

Then again, casinos must be the only place in the world where old-timers dragging oxygen tanks are chilling with faux-hawked 20-somethings and hotties who look like they should be clubbing.

It's a sight to see.

Mystic Lake and Treasure Island ("... resort and casinooooo!") are the two biggest and the closest. Here's a look at what's cool at these two big bastions of sin.

Treasure Island

The first thing you should know about Treasure Island is that you can drink here. You can't at Mystic Lake.

The other thing you should be aware of is this: If you're driving from the Twin Cities, it's a bit of a trek. A trip to Treasure Island (especially at night on the two-lane road) can feel like you're cutting through the backwoods of Minnesota. But it's a journey worth taking.

• Alcohol's in the house (but not on the house)

Now about those drinks. When you step in the front doors, the casino's new bar basically slaps you across the face and says, "Time for a beer." It's literally the first thing you see. It's called the Parlay Lounge, and while the rest of the casino's tropical decor can be a bit goofy, this bar is pretty slick. There are several smaller bars scattered throughout the place, too.

Mark Weber, a 28-year-old from Oakdale, thought Treasure Island was as good a place as any to put up his wedding party a couple of weeks ago. His friends spent most of their time going between the blackjack tables and the bar, grabbing fresh bottles of beer. (You can order a drink at your table.) But the groom, not really a gambler, just looked on in amusement, beer in hand.

"I'm having fun just watching them lose all their money," Weber said with a smile.

• Live music, also in the house

The Parlay Lounge also slaps you in the face with local live bands on weekends. The sound booms throughout the casino. The big Minneapolis cover band, Westside, rocked out on the night I was there, pounding out everything from "My Girl" to Blackstreet's "No Diggity."

• Gambling, definitely in the house

There are a lot of ways to win (and lose) money at Treasure Island. Besides the blackjack tables, there's a nice Texas Hold 'Em room with 10 large tables. At the bars, every stool has a slot machine embedded in the bar top. You can't take a break from gambling even if you want to. There's so much live music, drinking and gambling, you may want to rip your eyes out.

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Mystic Lake

They say the searchlights at Mystic Lake are like a beacon, beckoning gamblers from miles away. How convenient, right?

• The best buffet on the planet

No one takes a date to a buffet. But if you did, Mystic's buffet is so amazing, so absurdly enormous, that you wouldn't be that much of a dork. It's the best by far, thus its name: simply The Buffet. Wednesdays can be like getting into a club. It's that busy because it's seafood night. $22.95 a person. Wow. The buffet spans the culinary world. Luckily, the plates are the size of a steering wheel, so your homestyle meatloaf and mashed potatoes don't have to touch your Peking chicken and fried rice. God forbid. Oh, and they have a salad bar, which you will eat from only if you're that lame.

• The hotel

Mystic has 600 rooms. Yeah, it's huge. Little signs in the hotel hallways remind people that drinking is prohibited even in the rooms. But, c'mon, who are they fooling?

• The gambling

More than 4,000 slots. More than 100 table games. Yep, it's on.

I met a trio of young guys -- all 19 -- who are regulars on Mystic's blackjack floor. One, Josh Gebhart, even has a Facebook group called "Fans of Mystic Lake." There are actually several such groups on the social-networking website. His is one of the largest, with 40 members.

His first stop inside the casino on this night: "We gotta go to my favorite machine, the one I always win at," Gebhart said. "The ATM."

Then they get free soda and begin to circle the large pit of blackjack tables. What are they looking for?

"That feeling," said Tom Lukken. "The table's gotta feel right."

These guys like to talk, especially with the dealers. "It's no fun if the dealer isn't cool," Lukken said. "Some of the dealers won't talk to you, and that's not fun."

No surprise, there are quite a few things you can do at a blackjack table that definitely are not cool.

No. 1: There's a lot of good conversation, but "it's like a bar, so you don't bring up politics or sports teams," Gebhart said.

No. 2: "Don't pull out a handful of crumpled $1 bills, because it'll make you look like you brought your allowance to the casino," Gebhart said.

No. 3: Watch where you sit. If you're new, don't sit in the anchor position, which is the last player dealt. That person, depending on whether they hit or not, can affect what card the dealer will get and thus screw the rest of the table if the dealer comes up big. "That's how new players get yelled at," Gebhart said.

If this sounds a little too intense, there's always the maze of slots that seem to cover every last foot of the casino. One of Lukken's friends, Samantha Anderson, 19, said blackjack seems more like a guy thing -- so she sticks to the bright, blinking, dinging slot machines. Her favorite: Super Jackpot Party, one of the most popular video slots. "They're just more fun because they have all the little animated characters," she said.

Mm-hmm, very cute.

Toward the end of the night, after one of their friends had left the place $50 lighter, Gebhart and Lukken decided to call it quits, too. Each had lost about $80, which could be devastating for some. But it was just another day for two guys who have won big and lost big at Mystic Lake. Gebhart brushed it off with a shrug.

"Eh, I get paid on Friday."

• Wait, what about bingo?

Mystic Lake recently unveiled a grand new bingo room, supposedly the most hardcore bingo palace in the state. Plus, there's now Cosmic Bingo on weekends. Yep, it's like cosmic bowling -- glow-in-the-dark, blacklights and all that. But does that make bingo cool?

"It's still gonna be all old people," Gebhart said. "But I can't talk bad about it, because I'll probably be doing it, too, when I'm 80."

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Where's the craps?

... In Wisconsin, of course. Our neighboring state allows for a few more games in its casinos, including two that we greatly miss: craps and roulette. There are several smaller casinos just over the border, but the following two are worth the drive deeper into Wisconsin.

• St. Croix Casino
  Where: 777 Hwy. 8/63, Turtle Lake, Wis.
  Miles away: About 75.
  Info: Open 24 hours. Must be 21 to gamble. 1-800-U-GO-U-WIN or www.stcroixcasino.com.
• Ho-Chunk Casino
  Where: S3214 Hwy. 12, Baraboo, Wis.
  Miles away: About 220 (road trip!).
  Info: Open 24 hours. Must be 21 to gamble. 1-800-746-2486 or www.ho-chunk.com.