Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago (formerly Showboat Mardi Gras Casino, Harrah's East Chicago, and Resorts East Chicago) is a

riverboat casino A riverboat casino is a type of casino on a riverboat found in several states in the United States with frontage on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, or along the Gulf Coast. Several states authorized this type of casino in order to en ...

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 26,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Centered around heavy industry, the city is home to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwa ...

, docked at Indiana Harbor on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. It is owned by

Gaming and Leisure Properties Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino properties, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. It was formed in November 2013 as a corporate spin-off from Penn National Gaming. The company ow ...

and operated by

Penn Entertainment Penn Entertainment, Inc., formerly Penn National Gaming, is an American entertainment company and operator of integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gambling. It operates 43 properties in 20 states, under brands including Hollywood ...

. The property features a 56,000-square-foot casino that offers 1,900 slot machines including reels, video reels and video poker; more than 40 table games; a high limit gaming room that is on land adjacent to the riverboat; and a 288-room hotel.

History

Showboat Mardi Gras Casino opened on April 18, 1997. In 1998,

Harrah's Entertainment Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

bought Showboat, Inc. and renamed the property as Harrah's East Chicago. Harrah's later sold it to

Resorts International Holdings Resorts International Holdings, LLC (RIH), also known as Colony Resorts Holdings (CRH) was an affiliate of Colony NorthStar based in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of 2005, they were the fifth largest gaming company in America under Nick Ribis. RIH was c ...

, and the casino's name was changed, along with the street name to 777 Resort Blvd (similar to the addresses used for some Harrah's branded casinos: 777 Harrah's Blvd). It was later sold in 2007 to Ameristar Casinos and changed its name to Ameristar before the September 2008 deadline. In August 2013, the property became part of

Pinnacle Entertainment Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. was an American gambling and hospitality company. It was acquired by Penn National Gaming in 2018. At the time of acquisition, it operated sixteen casino properties, located in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mis ...

when that company acquired Ameristar Casinos. In April 2016, the property was sold to

along with almost all of Pinnacle's real estate assets, and leased back to Pinnacle. In October 2018,

Penn National Gaming Penn Entertainment, Inc., formerly Penn National Gaming, is an American entertainment company and operator of integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gambling. It operates 43 properties in 20 states, under brands including Hollywood ...

(now Penn Entertainment) acquired the property's operations as part of its acquisition of Pinnacle.

Vessel

The ''Win Star'' is the vessel that hosts the casino. The vessel uses a diesel reduction propulsion system and has a length of 332.2 feet. The boat's gross tons is 2803.0 and net tons measures 1906.0. It was built in 1997 by Atlantic Marine, Inc.

References

Casino hotels in Indiana Buildings and structures in Lake County, Indiana Ameristar casinos Tourist attractions in Lake County, Indiana East Chicago, Indiana 1997 establishments in Indiana Casinos completed in 1997 Hotel buildings completed in 1997 Riverboat casinos in Indiana {{casino-stub