Advice on Chicago area casinos and safety

I’m heading to Chicago for a business trip, staying in the north side.

I would like to make a trip to Horseshoe Hammond, but to get there, google maps says I need to go through south Chicago on I-90 and I-94.

I’m told that most of the gang and gun violence is located in the south side of Chicago.

Can someone who is familiar with Chicago give me some advice on whether it would be safe for me to make this trip. I’m already hesitant to make this trip, but I’m tempted. Just this past week alone, 74 people were shot in Chicago.

My research says Horseshoe Hammond has 100x odds at craps, which is why I want to go. Do any of the other casinos up in north Chicago have 100x odds?

I’ll post a review, if I go. If I do go, it’ll be very much on the downlow and I won’t be carrying cash.

I've never had a problem going there.

Are there any rap concerts in the area?

Ameristar in Gary is nice, just keep your valuables safe

I was just there this weekend. You'll be fine, you're on the highway the whole time when you go from the downtown area.

They have free shuttles that leave every couple hours from the Hyatt Regency downtown (and they have more shuttles that go to various other parts of Chicagoland). That's how I go when I'm staying in Chicago.

https://www.caesars.com/horseshoe-hammond/hotel/shuttles

Quote: klimate10

I’m heading to Chicago for a business trip, staying in the north side.

I would like to make a trip to Horseshoe Hammond, but to get there, google maps says I need to go through south Chicago on I-90 and I-94.

I’m told that most of the gang and gun violence is located in the south side of Chicago.

Can someone who is familiar with Chicago give me some advice on whether it would be safe for me to make this trip. I’m already hesitant to make this trip, but I’m tempted. Just this past week alone, 74 people were shot in Chicago.

My research says Horseshoe Hammond has 100x odds at craps, which is why I want to go. Do any of the other casinos up in north Chicago have 100x odds?

I’ll post a review, if I go. If I do go, it’ll be very much on the downlow and I won’t be carrying cash.

The trip is very safe. You'll be traveling on a highway through the "bad parts" of the city. If your car were to break down, you would just stay in the car, and call whatever roadside assistance you have.

When you get off the Skyway at Indianapolis Blvd., you just make one left turn at the stoplight, and you make a right at the casino entrance bridge and you're there.

As long as you're good with following directions - 90/94 to Skyway, and not trying a shortcut to beat traffic, you're fine. I don't think twice about it now when I go. (The tolls are crazy, I think it might be up to $6 both ways).

Now - on its website, Rivers Casino says they have 100x odds on craps. The minimum is going to be higher at Rivers depending on what time of day you go, but maybe that's not a big deal for you. Horseshoe is going to have $10 craps open for sure, and maybe $5. Rivers is going to be $10-$25.

Rivers is significantly closer, but I prefer Horseshoe. But I prefer Horseshoe because of the variety of games they offer (tiles!), and it's just a more spacious layout.

If all you care about is going to a place to shoot craps with 100x odds, and the rest doesn't matter, just go to Rivers because it's closer.

Thanks, FinsRule.

I’ll be making the trip to Horseshoe Hammond. Both are about 30 minutes from my hotel on the north side, and I like the Horseshoe brand.

I’ll stick to the highway and be sure not to take any detours.

It’s sad that a major US city can have such horrendous problems.

When I was at home, google maps said the Horseshoe Hammond was 30 minutes from our hotel, and that Rivers casino was also 30 minutes from our hotel. Now that we are at the hotel, the actual drive time to Horseshoe is 90 minutes, and the Rivers casino is 10 minutes. Weird.

And Rivers casino doesn’t open until 9am. This is the first major city casino I’ve been to that isn’t 24 hours.

I think all of the casinos in Illinois must close overnight on weekdays. I know I've been walked off the floor in Joliet and Metropolis, at least.

We were on 90/94 yesterday. It’s just another 8 lane highway through a city.

Quote: klimate10

When I was at home, google maps said the Horseshoe Hammond was 30 minutes from our hotel, and that Rivers casino was also 30 minutes from our hotel. Now that we are at the hotel, the actual drive time to Horseshoe is 90 minutes, and the Rivers casino is 10 minutes. Weird.

And Rivers casino doesn’t open until 9am. This is the first major city casino I’ve been to that isn’t 24 hours.

Rivers is the spot to go.

Quote: klimate10

When I was at home, google maps said the Horseshoe Hammond was 30 minutes from our hotel, and that Rivers casino was also 30 minutes from our hotel. Now that we are at the hotel, the actual drive time to Horseshoe is 90 minutes, and the Rivers casino is 10 minutes. Weird.

I would assume rush hour traffic would account for the Hammond number. Maybe the fact that in the morning you are going opposite traffic out to Rivers accounts for the lower time?

Quote:

And Rivers casino doesn’t open until 9am. This is the first major city casino I’ve been to that isn’t 24 hours.

RDW is right. I believe Illinois gaming law allows casinos to be open for only 22 hours a day. I know Harrah's Joliet's gaming day goes from 8 AM to 6 AM. Looks like Rivers is 9 AM to 7 AM.

I’m at Rivers right now. The parking lot and the design reminds me of the locals LV casinos.

Due to some law, not sure if it’s state or local, they can not comp alcohol. Gambling while sober is not fun.

Beers are $5 and up. Wow.

In the morning they had $5 craps. At 11am, they upped the min to $10, no grandfathering.

The casino closes at 7am and reopens at 9am.

Wow, the Rivers casino is tight with their comps.

I gambled for 5 hours. I asked for a comp to the buffet and the pit said he couldn’t issue the comp bc I needed more play. So I spoke to the host who said he would go ahead and issue the comp because I was a new player and it would be a welcome bonus. Lol. Thanks.

30 minutes later, I go to the buffet and the hostess at the buffet said the floor had only issued $2 food credit. There was no buffet comp.

I just left rather than speak with the host over a substandard looking buffet. I’ll give the host the benefit of the doubt.

Anyways, here’s my review of the Rivers casino.

The gambling here isn’t bad. $10 minimums with the early morning $5 minimim. 100x odds craps.

Pai Gow poker is $15 minimum.

They have the big double dealer baccarat tables. A lot of them.

All tables and all games were $10 or $15 by the time I left.

A lot of the gamblers here are locals. The dealers knew, by name, a lot of the gamblers. One dealer even said that she didn’t recognize me and ask if I was out of town.

I asked one of the floor about the violence in Chicago, and if really was as bad as they make it out in the media. She said Chicago has its problems, but that the violence is only limited to certain areas. She said, with a straight face and no hint of humor, exact quote: ‘it’s getting better, yesterday we had only five people shot’. She’s an optimist.

Slots appeared to be very tight. They’re maybe not as tight as McCarran slots, but they aren’t far behind. Everybody putting in their money, and no one winning. I’ve never understood the appeal of slots.

After I left the Rivers Casino, I drove to Gene and Jude’s to try their hot dogs that everyone raves about. I brought in my own ketchup packets since I was told that they don’t have ketchup. The cashier got all offended. She may have been joking. It’s a hot dog, people.

Hot dog was delicious, probably the best Chicago style dog I’ve ever had. Fries were meh; they went soggy very quickly and were super greasy. I tossed out the fries.



Here’s the casino sign as you pull in



Here’s the parking lot right when it opened at 9. Pretty empty at first, but by 1pm, the parking lot was full and people were driving around looking for parking spots to open.



Here’s what it looks like when you walk in



Pai Gow poker was $15 minimum. The dealer was red hot, wiped out everyone.





$5 table only lasted two hours before minimum went up to $10.



I feel sorry for the drink waitresses. There were a couple of attractive ones, but with only the ability to run free juice and soda, their tips can’t be that great. Despite the full casino, they weren’t serving that many drinks.

The pit said that state law prevents them from comping alcohol. But dang, you don’t have to charge $5 for a Bud Light. That’s absurd.

Thanks to the fellas who gave me advice. I can check off a Chicago area casino from the list of US casinos I’ve visited.

$5 for a beer is about standard in the Midwest.

Horseshoe is better than Rivers. I'm just not a Rivers fan. Probably because I have only lost there. But also because I can never get a spot at any table game, and the minimums are so high.

As for drinks, I'm so used to having to pay for drinks in all midwest casinos, that I don't even think about it anymore.

And Chicago.. I think it's safer than St. Louis. Not sure if that's saying a lot though.

Rivers gets a lot of traffic from ohare. It's just a couple miles away. I've stopped by on long layovers several times. It also has a cool feature in the parking lot where red/green/blue overhead lights indicate filled/open/handicapped spaces. The buffet is small but high quality.

All that said, I'd go to horseshoe 99/100 times. Bigger, better, more reasonable comp and booze policies, and cross-applicable points.

Quote: FinsRule

And Chicago.. I think it's safer than St. Louis. Not sure if that's saying a lot though.

Is that like saying that only five people were shot yesterday? Lol.

Little things can tell you a lot about the overall mindset of a city.

Where I’m from, almost every McDonalds has a self serve soda fountain with condiments out for people to help themselves. But when I went into a Chicago area McDonalds to get ketchup for my Gene&Judes run, I noticed that there were no condiments out, no self serve soda fountain, and no napkins out. It’s as if verything was hidden away; like they don’t trust people.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Maybe I only stayed in he nicer part of Chicago, but from what I saw, Chicago is way too beautiful of a city to have this third world ‘Chiraq’ reputation. It’s somewhat sad, and I hope something can be done one day.

Nice little trip report.

RE: Pai Gow Poker. What paytable do they use for their Fortune bet? Is it the same one Horseshoe Hammond uses that pays 1 to 1 for three pair?

Quote: ams288

Nice little trip report.

RE: Pai Gow Poker. What paytable do they use for their Fortune bet? Is it the same one Horseshoe Hammond uses that pays 1 to 1 for three pair?

No - 1-1 for 3 pair is in Indiana only.

Quote: ams288

Nice little trip report.

RE: Pai Gow Poker. What paytable do they use for their Fortune bet? Is it the same one Horseshoe Hammond uses that pays 1 to 1 for three pair?

Does Hammond still have that paytable? Southern Indiana dropped it when they dropped their $20 chips and went to no commission PGP. I was sad to see the paytable and those unique chips both go from HSI.

Quote: rdw4potus

Does Hammond still have that paytable? Southern Indiana dropped it when they dropped their $20 chips and went to no commission PGP. I was sad to see the paytable and those unique chips both go from HSI.

Same paytable as always.