Horseshoe Casino Hammond, located in
Hammond, Indiana, is a property containing gaming, entertainment, restaurants, bars, and lounges.
History
Horseshoe Casino originally opened as Empress Casino in 1996 as a , four-level gaming vessel.
Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation
Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation was established in 1993 with its only asset being the rights to use the Horseshoe name on casinos. The corporation was a private holding company mostly owned by Jack Binion.
History
In 1994, the company acqu ...
was established in 1993 as a private holding company, mostly owned by
Jack Binion
Jack Binion is an American businessman. Binion is the son of casino magnate Benny Binion and worked for his father at Binion's Horseshoe, a casino and hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Biography
Binion became president of the Horseshoe in 1963 a ...
. In 1999, the corporation acquired Empress Casinos, including both the Hammond property and another
Empress Casino in
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the cit ...
. After selling off the Joliet property in 2001, the Hammond property was rebranded as Horseshoe Casino Hammond on May 4, 2001. In 2004, the corporation was sold to
Harrah’s Entertainment (rebranded as Caesars Entertainment in 2010), which began the construction of a new gaming vessel, designed by Friedmutter Group, in 2006. The current
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
facility opened on August 8, 2008.
In October 2017, ownership of the property was transferred to
Vici Properties
Vici Properties Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino properties, based in New York City. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment Corporation as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. It owns ...
as part of a
corporate spin-off
A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active.
Characte ...
, and it was
leased back to Caesars Entertainment.
Facilities
The vessel has two public floors, including the main gaming floor with a special high limit,
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
, and Asian gaming areas, two feature bars, and a VIP lounge, as well as a second floor with a 3,400-capacity entertainment space and an updated Village Square Buffet. The vessel is adjacent to the main pavilion, with multiple food outlets, including Jack Binion’s Steakhouse, as well as a gift shop and ballroom/meeting facilities.
"The Venue" is Horseshoe Casino’s entertainment and event space. The space was designed by Canadian designers Sceno Plus, who are best known for designing the
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
theaters in the United States as well as the Coliseum at
Caesars Palace. Though the standard setup is 2,500 theater-style telescopic seats, the seats can be pulled back to create a full general-admission room that can be set up for more contemporary rock shows, as well as function as a banquet and tradeshow facility. The Venue opened with the casino on August 8, 2008, with a midnight Asian show featuring
Andy Hui
Andy Hui Chi-on (born 12 August 1967) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Hui is considered one of the most successful Hong Kong singers, with an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit.
Early life
Hui's mother is Vietnamese ...
and
William So
William So Wing Hong (; born 24 September 1967) is a Hong Kong actor and a Cantopop singer. He began his musical career by participating the New Talent Singing Awards in 1985 and won the competition as the first runner up to Alex To. His perfor ...
, and held several more grand opening concerts that same weekend, including
Bette Midler,
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...
,
Smashing Pumpkins
Smash may refer to:
People
* Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler
* Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above.
* DJ Smash, DJ and music producer
Ar ...
,
Mo'Nique
Monique Angela Hicks (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known professionally as Mo'Nique, is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has received an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
She ...
, and
James Blunt
James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...
. More than 200 acts performed in The Venue in its first three years and additional events have included The Great Midwest Smokeout and the Chicago Circuit Championship of the World Series of Poker.
The casino employs over 2,200 people.
Gambling
Horseshoe Casino has over of gaming space and currently has over 3,000
slot machines
A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine ( Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively ...
(including over 250
video poker
Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine.
History
Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like mo ...
machines) and 100
gaming tables. The high-limit gaming room features 125 machines in denominations up to $1,000 and is centered around an acrylic horseshoe statue, the second largest acrylic statue in the United States behind Tiffany’s at the time of its opening in 2008.
Horseshoe is home to the largest
poker room
A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is used to describe a dedicated room in casinos that is dedicated to playing poker and in function is similar to a car ...
in the Midwest, featuring 34 tables at all limits and a private poker area, Benny’s Back Room — named for the founder of the original Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, Benny Binion.
Horseshoe has consistently branded itself as the home of the highest limits.
Benny Binion, upon opening the original Binion’s Horseshoe in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, was the first to institute high
table limit
The table limit is the minimum and maximum bet that a gambler can make at a gaming table. It is a form of yield management in that the limits can be changed to optimize the profit from a gaming table. Gaming tables have a limited resource to sel ...
s. The
craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
table limit of $500 was 10 times higher than any other casino in Las Vegas, and eventually, Binion raised the limit to $10,000 and even eliminated table limits at times.
Horseshoe regularly hosts poker tournaments, including the
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...
(WSOP) Chicago Circuit Event and Chicago Poker Classic. The WSOP Circuit Event is the largest in the United States.
See also
*
List of Caesars Entertainment properties
Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...
*
List of casinos in Indiana
Indiana law authorizes ten land-based or riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River, one land-based casino in French Lick, and racinos at the state's two horse tracks. In addition, there is one Indian casino in the state. Other forms ...
References
External links
Official Site
{{Caesars Entertainment
1996 ships
Caesars Entertainment
Casinos in Indiana
Buildings and structures in Lake County, Indiana
Riverboat casinos
Tourist attractions in Lake County, Indiana
1996 establishments in Indiana