There's plenty of incentive to have people in the building who will be walking by the sports book. Obviously poker is labor intensive, but it did serve a purpose. Can't imagine the 'Shoe wasn't making at least something off all the various tournament series rolling through there along with what was basically a monopoly on poker.

With the CV 'mandates' there's now even more labor in operating poker ... not good. So until that becomes less restrictive, it does't make sense to open up a large cost item for the 'risk' of employee and patron.

There was live 10-handed poker in Iowa this past weekend with the MSPT holding their first tournament. It drew over 500 entries in two days with $100k first prize. So there's hope ... There will be another in Minnesota in late October (as of today).

Casinos track 'residual' gaming that poker players produce. They also know who is still coming to the casino even though poker is not available. All those numbers go into a decision on a poker room ... once they decide to even consider it again. At our home casino most of the poker players are not going in to play anything basically out of spite.

Right or wrong, there wont be much live poker until the cost of providing poker is a valid expense. Until casinos can open up more (closer) slots it just makes more sense to use all the space available for that type of gaming that obviously attracts a higher percentage of their patronage. GL

It's obvious that poker is gone from the Shoe until sometime next year at the earliest. And when it comes back it will look very different. Probably gone for good is the 33 table room and long waiting lists. And as Magoo rightly states the room was in decline long before Covid anyway. My prediction is a new non-smoking area with mostly slots and maybe five to ten PokerPro electronic tables. I hope I'm wrong; we shall see. Stay safe all.

I really hope the room will not be permanently shuttered - was the best room in Chicagoland area by far and one of the best rooms in the midwest.

Will be sad to see live poker die in the sate of Illinois, especially now that sports betting has been legalized and is starting to roll out.

Vote for politicians who will install a competent Illinois gaming board that isn't made up of unqualified stone cold brain dead grifting idiots

It will be a while. Lake County Indiana (Horseshoe Hammond location), "C" cases RISING. Today up to 9543. Entire State of Indiana "C" cases still RISING, today up to 100,000.

I was told that charity poker in Illinois is operating. Chicago Charity Games does have a partial calendar up on their website. Obv it's a moving target (I think) as far as locations go, but it's still showing as 'available'. I've never gone to any of their games but did see a stream of them in the past on YouTube (Brad Owen?) and it looked pretty decent. GL

I've been playing 9-handed in FL for a couple of months, and 8-handed in Vegas. So it's certainly possible to restart normal poker. I'm not suggesting that players anywhere are being any smarter about safety, but card rooms are being strict about hand sanitation and masks, and plenty of games are running.

Hello, all. Just wondering yet again if anyone has any updates on the fate of the Horseshoe Hammond poker room. I don't, but somebody somewhere must have heard something.

If someone had an update they probably wouldn't keep it to themselves. Most casinos are choosing not to expend the extra dollars on staff and implementing the (costly) requirements it would take to offer poker. You, yourself, indicated that poker probably wouldn't return until next year. While that was most likely an opinion, I'm sure that anyone who had information to dispute it would gladly do so.

In a ray of hope .. Chicago Charity Poker has been hosting poker at various sites for at least a month now. There may even be a separate thread on this site for discussion on that.

In a ray of hope .. The brand new 'The Midway Poker Tour' is hosting it's first event next week at a 'Chicago' Sheraton in Elk Groove, IL. STREAMING cash games on Wednesday and Thursday with a $1100 'MSPT/HPT' like tournament Fri-Sun with a $100K GPP.

In a ray of hope .. A casino near Green Bay WI is starting Fri/Sat poker this weekend.

So there are some cracks in the live poker scene .. and there are plenty of home games going on everywhere, you just need to network any poker contacts you may have. GL

Caesars Southern Indiana opened up their room this weekend. I have no reason to believe Horseshoe opening their room is imminent but that appears to be a positive sign.

Any word on the FTC’s mandated sale?

IGC mandated sale can't be far from occurring - top guy General Manager has "promoted himself" to "Regional President". Horseshoe now has a new General Manager. (Can't use names in this forum.)

Any time line for re-opening the poker room?

Try the Chicago Charity Gaming website for 'local' poker .. otherwise Four Winds in South Bend is running seven 7-handed tables from 10 AM to 6 AM every day. The BBJ hit there on Sunday ($222k) on a 2/5 table. Typically 1/2 but they do get 2/5 and 'maybe' a PLO going. GL

PS .. There's always St. Louis, 3 casinos open down there. (long drive)

Folks, I'm a bit confused. Just saw on the ABC7 Chicago website that the soon to open Hard Rock casino in Gary is having a job fair. Nothing strange about that. But it's happening at the Majestic Star meeting room. Does this mean the Star is closing? It seems strange that a company would host a job fair for a competitor. And what does all this mean for Chicagoland area poker?

Same operator. Majestic Star will move its license landward and close when Hard Rock opens.

Thanks for the info. Wonder what this means for the Horseshoe.

The Horseshoe still needs to be sold .. there may be a sale pending, not sure. Once the sale goes through the new owner will then (obviously) have a decision to make on poker.

The sooner other rooms get established, the harder it will be for that location to hold domination over the poker world. GL

Shoe just announced the William Hill sportsbook opening. I know William Hill had connections to El Dorado before the merger. Does that change anyone's expectations? Are they required to sell the Shoe specifically to keep regulators happy, or just one of their midwest boats?

Just saw in the news the other day that the sale of Hammond Horseshoe is delayed for at least a year. Other Horseshoe Indiana properties up for sale are in various stages of completion.

We will continue to use Draftkings Sportsbook at Ameristar Casino. Sports betting is a huge challenge as is. Don't won't to add additional risk of being cheated by William Hill Sportsbook at Horseshoe Hammond.

This, from Indiana Gaming Commission could be interpreted as there are no buyers, no offers to buy Horseshoe Hammond: "selling the Hammond casino "presents unique challenges".

Very true. Why do I get the feeling that I've played my last hand of live poker at the Horseshoe? I guess we'll see what the Hard Rock offers down the road.

I've always had a feeling about 'Shoe and why they never put up a hotel. Could be there's something going on water/dirt that wont quite meet current regulations and any new owners would be smart to get the current owners to sign off on anything that pops up that could be an issue, which may be a deal breaker or cause some to walk away.

There's certainly an opportunity for tournament poker once CV clears out and whichever casino chooses to make the commitment will be the leader for sure. It would be interesting to see how far out the contracts with HPT and WSOPc were dated and whether or not we could end up with a situation where there's a tournament being held in a building with no cash games .. again!. And I'm sure that MSPT wouldn't turn down a 'Chicago' opportunity should the calendar not be filled with multiple events from these other tours .. they should be in contact with HR right now before things start to free up more so.

Indiana has live poker currently, so whoever steps up first should reap the benefits if they can do it the 'right' way and keep Players at their site. GL

I hope this isn’t the case.

What about all the BBJ money? I read something recently that said something along the lines of “the BBJ money had to be offered back to the players”...don’t remember where I read that, but would be a few solid free-rolls. Not sure how they would determine who could play, though.