Ocean’s 11 Casino Celebrates 25th Anniversary In Oceanside

OCEANSIDE, CA — Ocean’s 11 Casino is celebrating its 25th anniversary in Oceanside this month. The casino will give away $50,000 in cash drawings and prizes throughout January with $20,000 in drawings on January 29th. A small ceremonial toast with special guests will take place at 1pm on Saturday.

Known as the “King of Clubs”, Partner Haig Kelegian Sr. is the architect of opening the casino and leading the company since January 1997. Haig Kelegian Sr. is also credited for his leadership, vision, and gaming experience that has made Ocean’s 11 Casino an industry leader and best casino in San Diego County throughout the last two and half decades.

“I’m extremely proud of everything the great team at Ocean’s 11 has accomplished. We have worked hard to put the needs of our customers and employees before all else; and have been a standout in our community supporting the city and a variety of causes. We look forward to the next 25 years!” said Haig Kelegian Sr.

Ocean’s 11 Casino received a multi-million-dollar remodel in 2020, elevating the entire customer experience including the casino, restaurant, and lounge plus modern interior and exterior refreshes. The casino floor expanded to offer a newly installed gaming services section, gaming table upgrades and board services. The Sports Lounge restaurant and bar received an extensive full bar remodel, interior and furnishing upgrades, enhanced entertainment.

The Patch took a tour with General Manager, Zaven 'Z' Esmaili, to get the latest on the changes at Ocean’s 11 and the upcoming 25th-anniversary celebration.

You've done all this remodeling and you have the anniversary coming up, so what's going on at Ocean's 11?

"It's been a big challenge with COVID and it was an unfortunate situation, but we decided to take the opportunity while everything was shut down to remodel. We had already been planning minor remodeling and changing a few things. But when this happened we decided that since we have to close anyway, we can just demolish the whole place. Now, everything on the floor is pretty much new.

We got rid of the wall that was dividing the poker section from the table games section and changed the entire casino, the bar, everything. We even changed the kitchen, so it's almost entirely a new casino.

The disappointment was that when we finished, we couldn't do a grand opening because of COVID. We kind of opened up slowly and we had an open tent in the parking lot, which was just crazy.

It's been very exciting for us to welcome the players back inside. The majority of our players have played here for many years, and this was somewhat their second home. There's a lot of people who are retired and they do this for fun every day and they appreciated that we actually spent a lot of money to make it comfortable and nicer for them to have fun.

Now we've got the 25th anniversary that we've been celebrating all month long. We're giving away $50,000 over the course of this month for our anniversary. On Saturday the 29th, we're giving away $20,000 cash, with $10,000 on the table games section and $10,000 cash on poker section and we're going to have, cake cutting, hors d'oeuvre, some drinks and just celebrate."

Can you tell us more about your background and how long have you been at Ocean's 11?

"I've been here about six and a half years. But, I've been in this business for a long time, since about 1983. I had been working in LA for many years before I came to Ocean's 11 and the atmosphere is so much better here. So much friendlier. People know each other, the staff knows almost everybody and so when you come in it's very relaxing, not an intimidating atmosphere. People feel very comfortable here."

Ocean’s 11 Casino is the largest poker operation in the County of San Diego and neighboring Riverside County. Open 24hrs daily, Ocean’s 11 Casino is considered home to the best staff and service, boasting some of the highest poker jackpots and popular promotions in the state of California. Since 1997, Ocean’s 11 Casino has committed to offering the best poker action in the area where players can also find a variety of table games including favorites like: Century 21 Blackjack, EZ Baccarat, Fortune Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Holdem.

Ocean’s 11 Casino is located at 121 Brooks Street, Oceanside, CA 92054; 760-439-6988. For more information visit www.oceans11.com.