As casino operators ante up for a greater share of the group market, casino properties with amenities for meetings and events are proliferating throughout the heartland.
Gigantic barges are replacing replica paddleboat casinos. Developers are piling on more hotel rooms to augment increasingly eye-popping casino, entertainment and event space. States that have approved new casinos and eased size restrictions are seeing results.
Indiana
Casino development, together with conference space and other amenities, can help revive a destination with an illustrious past. It has done this with the small town of French Lick in southern Indiana, a place that was once the mineral-springs gambling retreat of movie stars.
In May, the West Baden Springs Hotel, the second of two restored hotels built at the turn of the 20th century, debuted at the new $382 million French Lick Springs Resort & Casino.
It also includes the rejuvenated and expanded French Lick Springs Hotel and the state’s first land-based casino, which features 42,000 square feet of gaming action. The two properties offer a combined total of 109,000 square feet of event space.
The more upscale West Baden Springs, features 10,000 square feet of meeting space. Together the two hotels, which are less than one mile apart, have 682 rooms.
The resort’s 3,000 acres feature spas, restaurants and a restored Donald Ross-designed golf course. An additional 9-hole course is opening this summer, and a new Pete Dye-designed 18-hole course opens next year.
The Hoosier State also has 10 dockside casinos. Half are part of the country’s third-largest casino market after the Last Vegas Strip and Atlantic City—Chicagoland.
According to the American Gaming Association, Chicagoland had casino revenues of $2.6 billion last year, and of the nation’s top 20 commercial casino markets, six are in the Midwest.
Chicagoland’s facilities in Indiana are along Lake Michigan; those in Illinois are along rivers. Another distinction has led to massive new casino development on the Indiana side: Illinois limits its casinos to 1,200 gaming positions (slot and electronic machines and table games); the Hoosiers have no such limit.
At Horseshoe Casino Hammond, Harrah’s plans to unveil six huge casino vessels in late summer 2008. Each is bigger than the existing casino. They will make up a new $500 million, 350,000-square-foot facility with 108,000 square feet of gaming space and a large amount of function space.
In January 2006, Boyd Gaming unveiled its new barge with 65,000 square feet of gaming at Blue Chip Casino Hotel in Michigan City. Late next year it plans to open still another addition: a second hotel with 300 rooms, bringing the total room count to 484. There will also be a spa and additional meeting space.
Ameristar Casinos is buying Resorts East Chicago and is planning to expand and upgrade it. The property has a 1,900-slot casino, a 291-room hotel and 4,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The Indiana side of Chicagoland has two other casinos and a 300-room hotel, at Gary’s Buffington Harbor. The Majestic Star Casinos and Hotel consists of two adjacent casinos, one of which, the former Trump Indiana, was acquired by Majestic Star Casino LLC in December 2005.
At Argosy Casino Lawrenceburg, Penn National is building a $310 million, 270,000-square-foot gaming barge slated to open in 2009.
Belterra Casino Resort & Spa expanded three years ago, doubling its room count to 600 and increasing meeting space to 33,000 square feet. However, Pinnacle Entertainment recently announced it has postponed indefinitely a $45 million, 250-room expansion of the property.
The area’s two other casinos, both with golf, are the 200-room Grand Victoria Casino & Resort by Hyatt at Rising Sun, with meeting space that includes a 1,200-seat theater, and the 503-room Caesars Indiana, in Elizabeth.
Evansville, Indiana’s third-largest city, has the Casino Aztar riverboat, with a 250-room hotel and a 3-year-old, 11,000-square-foot executive conference center. A late December grand opening was held for the casino’s latest addition: the Le Merigot Hotel, a 100-room boutique property.
Illinois
The Illinois State Senate recently voted to approve four new casinos for metro Chicago and to allow the state’s nine existing dockside casinos to expand. The measure has moved to the House.
Two Chicagoland facilities are in Joliet: the 200-room Harrah’s Joliet, with 5,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and the 102-room Argosy Empress, which can accommodate groups of up to 500.
Two others are about 40 miles from downtown: the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, and Penn National’s 1,160-slot Hollywood Casino in Aurora.
In Metropolis, Harrah’s Metropolis opened a 258-room hotel and a 1,250-seat multipurpose event center in July 2006. Elsewhere in the state, East Peoria has Boyd Gaming’s 208-room Par-A-Dice Hotel & Casino, which has banquet space for 700.
In the southwest, two Illinois casinos are part of the St. Louis market: They are Argosy Alton, 20 miles north of downtown, and the 150-room Casino Queen, across the Mississippi River from the Gateway Arch. Casino Queen is completing a $150 million casino and entertainment complex, and slated to replace its riverboat by the end of this summer.
Missouri
With 11 riverboat casinos, the Show Me state will have an even dozen by the end of the year with the opening of Pinnacle Entertainment’s $450 million Lumiere Place in St. Louis.
Located at Laclede’s Landing entertainment district, it will feature a 200-room luxury hotel, expected to be Missouri’s first Four Seasons property. It will also have 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a spa, restaurants, a nightclub, and a 2,000-slot casino with 40 table games.
Lumiere Place will be connected by skybridge to a 297-unit Embassy Suites. A pedestrian tunnel will link it to the America’s Center convention complex.
Ten miles south of downtown at Lemay, Pinnacle is building its $350 million, 100-room River City Casino & Hotel, slated to open in late 2008.
St. Louis also boasts the 500-room Harrah’s St. Louis, Maryland Heights, with 12,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 1,025-slot President Casino near Lumiere Place, acquired by Pinnacle in January.
At historic St. Charles, 20 miles north of downtown, the 3,300-slot Ameristar Casino St. Charles expanded last fall, adding 19,000 square feet of meeting space. This fall it will open a 400-suite hotel.
With four casinos, Kansas City is the country’s 13th-largest casino market and the Midwest’s fifth-largest.
In April, Argosy Casino Riverside opened a $66 million, 258-room hotel. The Mediterranean-themed expansion includes a spa and 5,200 square feet of new meeting space, bringing its total space to 22,000 square feet.
On the Missouri River in Boonville, Isle of Capri opened a 140-room hotel and an 800-seat entertainment venue at the Isle-Boonville in June 2006. The company is also buying Casino Aztar in Caruthersville.
Kansas
Competition for Missouri metro Kansas City could come from Kansas City, Kan., across the river. In April, Kansas passed legislation allowing up to four state-owned casinos and casinos at three existing racetracks. Penn National says it is preparing a proposal for a gaming resort in southeast Kansas.
Four tribes operate six Kansas Indian casinos. Among them, the Prairie Band Casino & Resort has 1,000 slots, 297 guest rooms and a 12,000-square-foot events center outside Topeka.
Iowa
The Hawkeye State approved four new riverboat casinos in 2005. Three of them opened last year.
The fourth, the $134 million Isle-Waterloo opening in July, will bring the state’s casino riverboat total to 14. It will feature a 35,000-square-foot casino, three restaurants and a 200-room hotel.
South of Iowa City, the $65 million, 200-room Riverside Casino & Golf Resort opened in August 2006 with a 1,400-slot riverboat, a 12,420-square-foot event center, a spa, and restaurants. An 18-hole Rees Jones-designed golf course opens Aug. 1.
At Emmetsburg, the 70-room Wild Rose Casino and Resort opened in May 2006 with a 550-slot casino and banquet facilities for up to 300 people.
Dubuque-based Peninsula Gaming opened the Diamond Jo Casino in April 2006 in Worth County off I-35. New dining and event facilities are being added this summer.
Peninsula is also planning a 2008 opening for a new $55 million, 1,000-slot land-based Diamond Jo in Dubuque.
Across the Missouri River from Omaha, and with two riverboat casinos and a race track, Council Bluffs is the Midwest region’s sixth-largest casino market and the 19th nationwide.
Harrah’s is now embarking on a further expansion of Harrah’s Horseshoe Council Bluffs. It will build an upscale, 158-room nationally branded hotel with 3,000 square feet of meeting space.
Not to be outflanked, Ameristar Casinos in early June announced a $100 million expansion to the 160-room Ameristar Casino Hotel, which has a 5,000-square-foot ballroom. The project, expected to be completed in mid-2009, will double the casino square footage.
In eastern Iowa on the Mississippi, a $45 million, 250-room hotel opened at Isle-Bettendorf on June 1. Isle of Capri also owns the Rhythm City Casino in nearby Davenport.
Early this year, Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino at Altoona near Des Moines opened a 14,000-square-foot events center.
One of Iowa’s three Native American casinos, the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel at Tama, increased the size of its casino, added event facilities and doubled its number of guest rooms to 400.
Michigan
Michigan’s three land-based casinos in downtown Detroit make up the country’s fifth-largest casino market and the Midwest’s second-largest.
All three opened as temporary casinos in 1999 and 2000 on the condition that permanent ones with 400-room hotels would be built. All are now under construction and together they will add 1,200 guest rooms to the city.
MGM Grand Detroit expects to open its new $600 million facility in the fourth quarter of this year. It will include a hotel, a new casino, restaurants and bars, a spa, and 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
MotorCity Casino in early June added a 25,000-square-foot gaming floor to its existing 75,000 square feet of gaming. Other components of the $275 million project, including a hotel, entertainment venue, meeting space, and restaurants, are expected to open before year’s end.
Greektown Casino’s $200 million expansion, set for completion in fall 2008, will include 25,000 square feet of gaming space, a hotel, a 1,200-seat theater, and 10 banquet and meeting rooms totaling 25,000 square feet.
The Great Lakes State has 16 Indian casinos, almost all in the north. A new one in the southwest, however, will compete with Chicagoland.
The 165-suite, land-based Four Winds Casino Resort, set to open in August in New Buffalo, is only minutes from Michigan City.
The $160 million project will include more than 200,000 square feet of gaming and six restaurants. An events center and meeting space will be built in a second phase.
Undergoing a $43.5 million expansion, the 275-room Island Resort & Casino near Escanaba opened an expanded gaming floor and a 1,327-seat showroom last December, and a second hotel tower in April. An 18-hole golf course opens in spring 2008. The Hannahville Indian Community property has meeting space and 275 guest rooms.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which owns Detroit’s Greektown, has five Kewadin Casinos in upper Michigan. Last summer, the tribe opened the 81-room Kewadin Shores Casino & Hotel in St. Ignace, which includes 30,000 square feet of entertainment space and a 25,000-square-foot casino.
Near Traverse City, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has the Turtle Creek Casino. Nearby is the band’s 660-room Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, which completed a three-year, $12 million renovation last year. The resort has 54 holes of golf and 85,000 square feet of meeting space.
One of the heartland’s largest gaming venues is the 4,700-slot, 512-room Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort at Mount Pleasant. Owned by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, it has 70,000 square feet of function space.
Minnesota
The Land of 10,000 Lakes has more than 30 Indian gaming facilities.
In southern Minnesota, the 2,500-slot Treasure Island Resort & Casino, owned by the Prairie Island Indian Community, in June began work on a $50 million expansion scheduled for completion in fall 2008. It includes 230 additional hotel rooms, which will increase the room count to 480, and a 30,000-square-foot event center.
The closest gaming spot to the Twin Cities is the 600-room Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, 25 minutes south. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community property features 8,100- and 4,400-square-foot ballrooms, an 850-seat bingo hall and a 4,000-slot casino.
To the north, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe has the 494-room Grand Casino Mille Lacs, with a 26,000-square-foot events center, and the 281-room Grand Casino Hinckley, with a 10,500-square-foot ballroom and a 1,154-seat concert venue.
Other meetings-equipped casinos include the Shooting Star Casino Hotel in Mahnomen, which has 28,000 square feet of meeting space, and Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort in Granite Falls, with 15,000 square feet.
Wisconsin
At the Potawatomi Bingo Casino near downtown Milwaukee, 500,000 square feet of gaming space is being added to the existing 256,000 square feet. Scheduled for a summer 2008 opening, the $240 million project also includes new restaurants and bars.
Meetings-friendly Wisconsin gaming properties include the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin’s 408-room Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Green Bay, across from Austin Straubel International Airport and offering 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
Another is the Ho-Chunk Nation’s 315-room Ho-Chunk Casino Hotel & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, with 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
South Dakota
In South Dakota near Oglala, the Oglala Sioux Tribe opened a new casino in March, and this summer is opening a 78-room hotel at its Prairie Winds Casino.
