Horseshoe Hammond

History

Horseshoe Casino was originally opened as Empress Casino in 1996 as a 54,000-square-foot (5,000 m²), four-level gaming vessel. Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation was established in 1993 as a private holding company mostly owned by Jack Binion. In 1999, the corporation acquired Empress Casinos, including both the Hammond property and another Argosy Empress Casino in Joliet, Illinois. After selling off the Joliet property in 2001, the Hammond property was re-branded as Horseshoe Casino Hammond on May 4, 2001. In 2004, the corporation was sold to Harrah’s Entertainment (re-branded as Caesars Entertainment in 2010), who oversaw a 2-year construction of a new boat. The current casino facility, a gaming vessel designed by Friedmutter Group beginning in 2006, was opened on August 8, 2008. The vessel has two public floors, including a main gaming floor with special high limit, poker, and Asian gaming areas, 2 feature bars, and a VIP lounge, as well as a second floor with more gaming space, 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.

Horseshoe has consistently branded itself as the home of the highest limits. Benny Binion, on opening the original Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas, was the first to institute high table limits. The craps table limit of $500 was ten 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.

The casino has a staff of over 2,200 employees.

Gambling

Horseshoe Casino has over 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) of gaming space, and currently has over 3,000 slot machines (including over 250 video poker 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 the opening in 2008.

Horseshoe is home to the largest poker room in the Midwest, featuring 34 tables at all limits, and including a private poker area, Benny’s Back Room, named for the founder of the original Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, Benny Binion.

Horseshoe regularly hosts poker tournaments, including the World Series of Poker Chicago Regional and Chicago Poker Classic. The WSOP regional is the largest regional in the United States.

Attractions

"The Venue" is Horseshoe Casino’s entertainment space which also functions as an area that can host any type of event. The 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m²) space was designed by Canadian designers Sceno Plus, who are best known for designing all of the Cirque du Soleil 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 versatility of the room allows those seats to be pulled back for a full general-admission room that can be set up for more contemporary rock shows, as well as function as a banquet and trade show facility. The Venue opened on the same day as the casino on Aug 8, 2008 with a midnight Asian show featuring Andy Hui and William So, and held several more grand opening concerts that same weekend, including Bette Midler, Smashing Pumpkins, Mo'Nique, and James Blunt. More than 200 shows were produced in The Venue in the first three years, and additional activities included The Great Midwest Smokeout, as well as the Chicago Circuit Championship of the World Series of Poker.