As mentioned two weeks ago, the histories of Indiana and Illinois gambling are intertwined. Many riverboat casinos along Lake Michigan are considered to be Chicago-area tourist attractions, but several reside across the state line, in Indiana. It gets even more confusing when you consider that East Chicago is an Indiana city.
Not as bad as having two Kansas Cities across the state line from each other, but it's getting there. Gambling in Indiana had an auspicious beginning.
Indiana Harbor lay claim to the "Big House," an illegal gambling establishment in East Chicago. Known as "one of the Midwest's most lavish gambling emporiums," the Big House was open from 1929 to 1950. It was backed early on by notorious gangster Frank Nitti.
After the Big House closed, the 825 Club, also in East Chicago and known as the "South Shore Smoker" existed from 1949 to the 1970s. Police raids were frequent, but the place stuck around anyhow.
Indiana's first legal riverboat casino opened in 1995 in Evansville. By the end of 1996, four more boats were launched, and now there are ten total, five on Lake Michigan and five on the Ohio River.
In 1997, Harrah's East Chicago, recently recristened the Resorts East Chicago Hotel and Casino. The biggest casino in the Chicago area, Resorts offers limits up to 20-40, a bad beat jackpot, and No-Limit tournaments four times a week: a $85- $15 game on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and a $330-entry game on Thursday with a $36,000 prize pool.
Caesar's Indiana, to the south, is considered the world's largest gaming vessel - it's 450 feet long, 100 feet wide and 4 stories tall. The Grand Victoria Casino & Resort, a Hyatt establishment, is a riverboat casino in Rising Sun, which is in eastern Indiana on the Ohio River. "We offer Texas Hold'em and Seven Card Stud, and our limits are 3/6, 5/10, 10/20, 20/40 and No Limit Texas Hold'em," said Nicola Evans, Table Games Resource Manager at the Grand Victoria.
"Business is good during the week and great on the weekends," says Evans. "The crowd we see now is a younger one to what we saw in our old poker room back in 1998.
They obviously watch the TV Hold'em and come in with their hoodies, dark glasses and spinners."
Tournament action is fierce at the Grand Victoria. "We held our first poker tournament this year in May and it was a huge success, with players traveling up to three hours to play," says Evans. "We are holding another tournament every Tuesday from August 2 to November 8."
A new casino, the 11th and final casino allowed under Indiana law, will open by the end of 2006 in French Lick, the home of former NBA player Larry Bird. It's a $250 million project, incuding a renovated resort & spa, a lagoon-themed casino, and an additional 240 renovated rooms at a nearby hotel. It's a good bet that a casino that size will offer live poker - time will tell.
