Midwest Casino Travel Information

on location: midwest ❖

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Wisconsin’s Menominee Casino Resort

MIDWEST

Casino Update Gaming meccas across the region entice players with flashy new features

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roup travelers will find this an exciting time to travel to Midwest casinos and experience all kinds of new developments, from expansions and upgrades to brand new facilities.

ILLINOIS Groundbreaking for the new casino in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines took place in April. Located near O’Hare International Airport, the casino is scheduled to open in spring or summer 2011. The 147,000-square28 August 2010

foot facility will have a 43,000-squarefoot casino floor. The name has not been determined.

Empress Casino in Joliet had a fire in March 2009 that destroyed the property’s exterior, entertainment pavilion and back offices. Soon after the fire, the casino underwent major reconstruction and added new carpeting, lighting, wall finishes and ceiling treatments. There is a new high-limit gaming area on the lower level, with slots, tables twice as large as before

and a VIP players lounge. The property will be renamed Hollywood Casino Joliet after it unveils a new shore-side structure joining the casino boat and parking garage at the end of 2010. The exterior will sport the 1930s Art Deco design found at several new Hollywood properties of Penn National Gaming. Groups can experience new dining options at the Final Cut Steakhouse, Epic Buffet and the sports bar Hollywood Stadium. (empresscasino.com) LeisureGroupTravel.com

The architecture reflects the 1904 INDIANA MINNESOTA Seven Clans Casino Red Lake World’s Fair and Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse Travelers will experience the taste of opened its doors in December and has is in the style of Judy Garland’s home chef and TV host Paula Deen’s cook300 machines, four blackjack tables and in Meet Me in St. Louis. (rivercity.com) ing at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. two poker tables.

Its hotel has 40 rooms The new restaurant, Paula Deen Bufwith master suites that have balconies, OHIO fet, will open Sept. 3. Seating 525, it New casinos will open in 2012 in whirlpool tubs and fireplaces. (sevenwill feature her Southern culinary clanscasino.com) Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. delights accompanied by Colonial Hollywood Casino Toledo is Southern touches reminiscent set for the first half of 2012, and of Deen’s hometown, Savannah, Hollywood Casino Columbus Ga. Casino goers can purchase the last half of the year. cookware, aprons, cookbooks The Cincinnati casino, at and selections of her furniture the Broadway Commons site in line at a Paula Deen retail store, the designed after the kitchen seen northeast corner of downtown, will anchor a new enteron her Food Network show. tainment district. In Cleveland, (horseshoe-indiana.com) a casino will open in 2013 on Hollywood Casino in the banks of the Cuyahoga Lawrenceburg upgraded its River adjacent to Quicken steakhouse, renamed Final Cut Loans Arena (Cleveland CavSteakhouse; it replaces Bogart’s. aliers) and Progressive Field Next door, the H Bar lounge just (home of the Cleveland Indiopened. Also new are Marquee ans). The Cincinnati and Café restaurant and Hollywood Cleveland sites have yet to be & Grind coffeehouse. The twonamed. In November 2009, the level Boogie Nights nightclub is state passed a constitutional in the connector of the casino’s amendment to authorize casino old barge and has bright decogambling. rations of retro furniture, movie posters, disco ball and lava Newly refurbished Empress Casino in Joliet, Ill. will soon be renamed Hollywood Casino Joliet.

WISCONSIN lamps. (hollywoodindiana.com) Menominee Casino Resort in MISSOURI Keshena, located on the tribal reservaMICHIGAN Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas tion, plans to expand. In the first phase FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek of construction, the hotel will add a opened in August 2009 with a 107,000City will add 80 deluxe rooms, 20 suites pool, cabana bar and a conference censquare-foot casino floor and 2,680 slot and a fitness center by the end of 2011. ter with a ballroom (capacity of 600 to machines. Popular selections include The property has a 140,000-square-foot 1,000) and five smaller meeting rooms casino, full-service hotel, nine dining Wheel of Fortune, Jaws, Wizard of Oz each seating 50. Construction should venues, entertainment, an 18-screen and Monopoly Money Grab.The casino be completed in November. (menommovie theater, video arcade, children’s has 78 table games, including roulette, ineecasinoresort.com) LGT entertainment complex and a 15,000craps, blackjack, big six and baccarat. A square-foot event space. (ameristar.com) high-limit table game area has special On the Mississippi River near St. service for VIP players. In the Poker Obtain Midwest Room, game selections include Omaha, Louis, River City Casino opened its casino information and contact Texas Hold ’Em and Stud. Bingo playdoors in March. The gambling area is group-friendly ers will enjoy high-stakes bingo sessions 90,000 square feet and features over suppliers directly at leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info held daily. (firekeeperscasino.com) 2,000 slot machines and 55 table games.

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