Horseshoe Casino Hammond
Horseshoe Hammond's 400,000-square-foot complex has room to spare -- 350,000 square feet of it is gaming floor, plus a 90,000-square-foot event space called The Venue for when you need a break from the machines.
Horseshoe Casino Hammond runs one of the largest gaming floors in the Midwest, spread across 350,000 square feet within a 400,000-square-foot lakefront complex just outside Chicago. The current building dates to 2008, but the casino itself is older -- it opened in 1996 under a different name and different ownership, and has changed hands twice since. On the floor today, that scale shows up as everything from Buffalo Diamond and Wheel of Fortune to a rare dollar-denomination Mystic Lamp machine, spread across a room reviewers say rarely feels as crowded as its machine count would suggest. Here's what's actually on the floor, what the room feels like, and the history behind the name.
Slot Machines and Video Poker
The reel-game side of the floor includes Buffalo Diamond and Wheel of Fortune, both confirmed directly by Caesars' own property page. Video poker gets real depth here too -- Double Bonus, Jacks or Better, and Deuces Wild all run across more than 300 video poker machines, per a casino-directory profile, with denominations from a penny up to $1,000 in the high-limit room. One standout curiosity, flagged in a detailed visitor trip report: Horseshoe Hammond carries a dollar-denomination Mystic Lamp machine, an older title that report says is usually only found in penny form elsewhere -- the only dollar version the reviewer says they've ever seen. Betting limits elsewhere on the floor run high even by regional standards: up to $25,000 on blackjack and $100,000 on hand-held midi-baccarat, with craps offering up to 100x odds behind the line.
Table Games and the Poker Room
Beyond the slots, the floor carries a large table-games operation and a 34-table poker room, with a private high-limit area called Benny's Back Room reserved for Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Horse. The property also runs Le Cheng, a dedicated Asian gaming area that one destination review called one of the better-executed Asian gaming environments in the Midwest -- a specific enough claim that it's worth seeking out if that's the section you're after. A 34-table poker room is a real commitment of floor space for a regional casino, and it puts Horseshoe Hammond closer to a dedicated Vegas- or Atlantic City-scale poker operation than a card room bolted onto a slots floor as an afterthought.
Layout, Decor, and Atmosphere
The floor spans two public levels within the 350,000-square-foot gaming space, and despite the sheer scale, reviewers say it rarely feels crowded even on busy weekend nights -- there's simply enough room to spread out. Service is built into the machines themselves: the Total Touch system at slots and table positions lets players order drinks, redeem free play, check Caesars Rewards balances, and pull up real-time offers without leaving their seat. A first-hand visitor trip report put it more bluntly, saying the casino 'would fit right in anywhere in Vegas' and, in the reviewer's estimation, is actually larger with more machines than most places on the Strip -- though that same report clocked slot payback under 90%, tighter than the reviewer expected given the size of the operation. The Venue, a 90,000-square-foot event space attached to the casino, gives the property room for concerts and larger gatherings separate from the gaming floor itself.
History and Location
The casino traces back to 1996, when it opened as the Empress Casino, a 54,000-square-foot, four-level gaming vessel on Lake Michigan. Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation -- founded in 1993 and led by Jack Binion, the gaming executive behind the Horseshoe brand -- bought the Empress properties in 1999, picking up both the Hammond boat and a sister casino in Joliet, Illinois. After the Joliet property was sold off in 2001, the Hammond casino was rebranded Horseshoe Casino Hammond on May 4, 2001. The building most visitors see today is newer: Harrah's Entertainment (later renamed Caesars Entertainment in 2010) bought the parent corporation in 2004 and broke ground on a new gaming vessel in 2006, designed by the Friedmutter Group, which opened August 8, 2008 with the expanded footprint that gives the property its current scale. Ownership shifted again in October 2017, when Vici Properties took over the real estate through a corporate spin-off and leased the building back to Caesars Entertainment, which still operates it today.
Caesars Rewards
Like other Caesars-operated properties, play at Horseshoe Hammond tracks through Caesars Rewards, checkable directly at the machine through the Total Touch system rather than requiring a trip to the rewards desk. Because the program spans the full Caesars portfolio, points and status built up here carry over to other Caesars casinos rather than staying tied to this one floor. That portfolio-wide structure has stayed constant through two ownership changes -- Harrah's Entertainment's 2004 purchase and Vici Properties' 2017 real-estate spin-off both left Caesars as the operator running loyalty accounts day to day, so a card earned here has kept working the same way across both transitions.
What to Know Before You Play
If you're chasing a specific machine, the video poker bank is a good first stop -- Double Bonus, Jacks or Better, and Deuces Wild are all confirmed here, with denominations running from penny to dollar. High-limit players should look for Benny's Back Room for poker and the dedicated high-limit slots area for the $1,000-per-spin machines. And given one visitor's specific payback observation of under 90%, it's worth not assuming a big-looking floor automatically means loose machines -- more machines and a bigger room don't necessarily translate to better odds. If Mystic Lamp is on your list specifically, remember it's the dollar-denomination version that's the rarity here; the penny version turns up at plenty of other casinos. If you're standing in front of a machine or table and want a faster read than guessing, photographing it and asking 6-lab's Advisor is the quickest way to check.
Notable games on the floor
- Buffalo Diamond
- Wheel of Fortune
- Double Bonus
- Jacks or Better
- Deuces Wild
- Mystic Lamp
Good to know
- The property includes a 400,000-square-foot facility with 350,000 square feet of casino gaming space.
- Features a large-scale entertainment venue ('The Venue') containing 90,000 square feet of event space.
- The property offers over 300 video poker machines, with betting limits up to $1,000 per spin on slots, $25,000 on blackjack, and $100,000 on hand-held midi-baccarat; craps offers up to 100x odds.
- A private high-limit area called 'Benny's Back Room' offers Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Horse across a 34-table poker room.
- The Total Touch system built into slot machines and table positions lets players order drinks, redeem free play, check Caesars Rewards balances, and receive real-time offers without leaving their seat.
- Le Cheng, the property's dedicated Asian gaming area, is considered one of the better-executed Asian gaming environments in the Midwest.
- The floor rarely feels crowded despite the machine count, even on busy weekend nights.
- A visitor trip report described the casino as feeling like a Vegas experience, calling it larger with more machines than most places on the Las Vegas Strip, though slot payback ran under 90%, tighter than expected.
- The casino opened in 1996 as the Empress Casino, a 54,000-square-foot four-level gaming vessel; Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation, led by Jack Binion, bought the Empress properties (including a sister casino in Joliet, Illinois) in 1999, and the Hammond boat was rebranded Horseshoe Casino Hammond on May 4, 2001 after the Joliet property was sold off.
- Harrah's Entertainment (renamed Caesars Entertainment in 2010) bought the parent corporation in 2004 and began building a new, larger gaming vessel in 2006, designed by the Friedmutter Group, which opened August 8, 2008; ownership passed to Vici Properties in October 2017 through a corporate spin-off, with the property leased back to Caesars Entertainment.
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