Mazatzal Hotel & Casino, Payson Arizona: Casino Location and Operating Nation
Mazatzal Hotel & Casino stands beside Highway 87 at Payson, the Tonto Apache Tribe’s only Class III floor and the one that serves the Rim Country and the Beeline route out of Phoenix.
The record
The Payson casino record at a glance
| Operating nation | Tonto Apache Tribe |
|---|---|
| Address | Highway 87, Mile Marker 251, Payson, AZ 85541 |
| Region | The high country |
| Map position | 34.22° N 111.33° W (venue-level, not doorway) |
| Gaming class | Class III, under the nation’s tribal-state compact |
| Minimum age | 21, statewide and without exception |
| Facilities detail | Not published in a citable form by the operator |
Official site: mazatzalcasino.com · Also published by the venue: Facebook, Instagram
WP 01 · 34.22° N 111.33° W · Arizona Indian Gaming Association roster, 1 September 2026
Everything in that table comes from the operator’s own published pages or the association roster. Arizona casinos do not publish floor sizes, machine counts or revenue, so those rows do not exist here — a deliberate gap rather than an oversight. Figures of that kind circulate widely for this venue and every other in the state, and they are estimates.
Context
Rim Country
Payson sits below the Mogollon Rim at the end of the Beeline Highway, a drive of well under two hours from the north-east Valley. For the Rim Country communities this is the only nearby Class III floor; the alternatives are the long run back down to the Valley or across to Camp Verde.
Detail
A small nation’s single venue
The Tonto Apache Reservation is among the smallest in Arizona, and the nation operates one casino on it. Reservation size and casino scale are only loosely related — the compact framework, not acreage, determines what a nation may run.
Getting there
How far Mazatzal Hotel & Casino is from the main Arizona cities
Straight-line distances calculated from the venue’s published address. Useful for shortlisting, useless as an itinerary.
| From | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|
| Scottsdale | 61 miles |
| Mesa | 63 miles |
| Phoenix | 68 miles |
| Prescott | 69 miles |
Arizona’s road network makes these figures a rough guide at best. Mountain passes in the centre and east of the state, and the long empty stretches west of Tucson, both mean the drive can be far longer than the line suggests. The casino finder applies the same calculation to every venue in the state so the comparison is at least consistent.
Nearby
The closest other floors
| Casino | Nation | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Cliff Castle Casino Hotel | Yavapai-Apache Nation | 40 miles |
| We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort | Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation | 49 miles |
| Talking Stick Resort | Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | 56 miles |
| Casino Arizona | Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | 62 miles |
5 of Arizona's 27 Class III floors sit in the high country. The nations overview groups every venue by the nation that runs it, which is usually a better guide to how similar two floors will be than distance is.
Measured against the rest
Where Mazatzal Hotel & Casino sits among Arizona's 27 floors
Every figure here is calculated from the roster's own coordinates rather than asserted, so it moves when the roster does.
The nearest other Class III floor is Cliff Castle Casino Hotel, about 40 miles away in a straight line. Ranked by that gap alone, this venue is the 6th most isolated of the 27 in the state, which puts it mid-table — not remote, but not one of the tightly clustered metropolitan floors either.
The Tonto Apache Tribe operates this floor and no other, which is the normal pattern in Arizona: most of the sixteen gaming nations run a single venue. Operator scale is worth knowing because it travels with the regulator: a nation running several floors applies one gaming office and one compact across all of them, so rules and licensing tend to be consistent between its venues even where facilities differ.
None of this is a ranking of quality. This site publishes no ratings and no reviews for this venue or any other Arizona casino, because the data that would support one — payout figures, floor size, revenue — is not published per venue in this state. What can be measured honestly is geography, ownership and legal status, and that is what is measured here.
Common questions
Questions about Mazatzal Hotel & Casino
Who owns and operates Mazatzal Hotel & Casino?
Mazatzal Hotel & Casino is owned and operated by the Tonto Apache Tribe. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the nation's compact with the State of Arizona, the nation's own gaming office licenses staff and vendors and regulates the floor day to day, while the Arizona Department of Gaming certifies and audits against the compact.
Where is Mazatzal Hotel & Casino?
The published address is Highway 87, Mile Marker 251, Payson, AZ 85541, in the high country. That places it roughly 61 miles in a straight line from Scottsdale and 63 miles from Mesa. Straight-line distance is not drive time, and in the mountainous parts of Arizona the difference can be substantial.
How old do you have to be to gamble at Mazatzal Hotel & Casino?
Twenty-one. Arizona applies a minimum age of 21 to every casino floor, sportsbook, lottery outlet and racetrack in the state, with no 18-and-over tier at any tribal venue. The Arizona gambling age guide explains how the rule is applied and why the state differs from its neighbours.
What class of gaming does Mazatzal Hotel & Casino offer?
It appears on the Arizona Indian Gaming Association roster of Class III venues. Class III is house-banked gaming and is only permitted under a ratified tribal-state compact, which is the legal difference between it and the Class II bingo-style gaming that needs no state agreement. The guide to gaming classes covers the distinction.
What are the nearest other casinos to Mazatzal Hotel & Casino?
The closest Class III floors are Cliff Castle Casino Hotel (about 40 miles), We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort (about 49 miles), Talking Stick Resort (about 56 miles). All distances are straight-line and calculated from published addresses. The casino finder reorders every venue in the state by distance from a city you choose.
Does Mazatzal Hotel & Casino publish its revenue or floor size?
No, and neither does any other Arizona casino. The state's compacts require contributions to Arizona rather than per-venue public accounts, so the only official figures are aggregate quarterly contributions. Any revenue, machine-count or square-footage figure quoted for a specific Arizona venue is an estimate from outside the record. Where the money goes sets out what is actually published.
Record last reviewed 1 September 2026. Roster and operating nation from the Arizona Indian Gaming Association roster; address and coordinates from the venue's published details.
Gambling in Arizona is restricted to adults aged 21 and over at every tribal casino, sportsbook, lottery outlet and racetrack in the state. If gambling has stopped being a game, the Arizona Problem Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and staffed around the clock: 1-800-NEXT-STEP. More support and the state self-exclusion form are at problemgambling.az.gov.