Horseshoe Hammond Casino 

Casino games at Horseshoe Hammond

The Horseshoe Hammond property is huge, covering approximately 450,000 square feet. The casino proper previously occupied more than a third of that space, although today measures right at 108,000 square feet and contains lots of slots, table games, a poker room and a sportsbook.

Slot machines

In the past, Horseshoe Hammond boasted more than 3,200 slot machines on the casino floor, and as recently as early 2020 still had more than 2,200 slots. Today that number has settled at just over 1,700 slots in operation, which still makes Horseshoe Hammond one of the top casinos in Indiana in terms of slots available. These days, Horseshoe Hammond and its Lake County neighbor Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana usually rank at the top of the list each month for most slots in Indiana.

The slots at Horseshoe Hammond Casino range from a penny up to $1,000 a spin. You’ll find both traditional and video slots, as well as plenty of progressive jackpot slots. Favorite slots at Horseshoe Hammond include:

• Buffalo Diamond
• Dragon Link
• King’s Jewels
• Lightning Link
• Mercury
• Tiger Treasures
• Wheel of Fortune

There are also approximately 300 video poker machines at Horseshoe Hammond, some mixed among the slots and others available as bar top games. You’ll find favorites like Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, and Double Bonus among the video poker offerings.

Table games

Moving over to table games, Horseshoe Hammond excels there as well, with more than 100 options.

The casino advertises itself as the “Home of Best Odds & Highest Limits,” and indeed, you’ll find special bets and increased stakes at some of the tables, such as a 100x bet at craps and $100,000 per hand baccarat. Those high limits are a vestige of the casino’s association with Benny Binion, who was famous for offering the highest-staked games in Las Vegas at Binion’s Horseshoe.

Featured table games at Horseshoe Hammond include:

• Baccarat (including Mini-Baccarat, EZ Baccarat)
• Blackjack games (including Spanish 21, Blazing 7’s, 21+3, King’s Bounty, and Double Deck Blackjack)
• Craps
• High Card Flush
• Mississippi Stud
• Pai Gow Poker
• Roulette 
• Three Card Poker
• Ultimate Texas Hold’em

Furthermore, look for electronic table games, including a couple of electronic roulette tables.

Also, be sure to visit Le Cheng, an elegant Chinese-themed gaming room serving as the casino’s Asian Gaming Area. There, you’ll find several Mini-Baccarat Dragon Bonus and EZ Baccarat tables situated alongside the nearby Foo Noodle Bar.

Poker Room at Horseshoe Hammond Casino

Once upon a time, Horseshoe Casino Hammond featured a large, 30-plus table poker room. There also used to be a special Benny’s Back Room area for high-stakes games, named after the aforementioned Benny Binion. Today, things have been scaled back a bit, though still with plenty of poker action to enjoy.

Just off the main casino floor, you’ll find a 13-table poker room operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Usually, about half those tables are up and running, sometimes more at night and on the weekends. Cash games are regularly spread as follows:

• $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em ($100 min. / $300 max. buy-in)
• $2/$5 No-Limit Hold’em ($200 min. / $1,000 max. buy-in)
• $1/$2 Pot-Limit Omaha ($100 min. / $500 max. buy-in)

You can learn how many tables are in action and whether there is a waitlist for any by checking the Bravo Live app.

The room features its Legendary Bad Beat Jackpot that can award tens of thousands of dollars if your quad jacks or better get beaten. There is an ongoing Legendary High Hands jackpot as well.

The poker room also hosts weekly No-Limit Hold’em tournaments with $120 buy-in tourneys on Tuesdays and Thursdays (with $5,000 in guaranteed prize pools) and a $220 buy-in event on Wednesdays ($10,000 guaranteed). Horseshoe Hammond also frequently hosts World Series of Poker Circuit stops in The Venue (described below).

Caesars Sportsbook

You can wager on sports at Horseshoe Hammond’s Caesars Sportsbook. 

The spacious 5,300-square-foot sportsbook has 10 betting counters open every day from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. with self-service betting kiosks also available 24/7. There is plenty of comfortable seating with deluxe lounge chairs and couches from which you can follow all the action on over a dozen 85-inch LED high-resolution screens.

Caesars Sportsbook accepts all of the usual wagers—moneylines, spreads, totals, parlays, props, futures and more—on a wide variety of sports, including:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Cycling
• Football
• Golf
• Hockey
• Lacrosse
• Rugby League / Rugby Union
• Soccer
• Tennis
• UFC/MMA
• Volleyball

Horseshoe Hammond also partners with a couple of different online sportsbook operators in Indiana: the Caesars Indiana Sportsbook and the Unibet Indiana Sportsbook. When using either site or mobile app, you can place sports bets from anywhere in the state of Indiana.

Amenities at Horseshoe Hammond Casino

As noted, there is no hotel on the property at Horseshoe Hammond, although you’ll find several hotels in the area that have partnered with the casino. These include:

• Hyatt Regency McCormick Place (Chicago)
• Residence Inn Chicago Southeast (Hammond)
• Courtyard Marriott Southeast (Hammond)
• Fairfield Inn & Suites Chicago Southeast (Hammond)

Each of these hotels is located 15-20 minutes from the casino. Be sure to check with these locations for special casino rates and/or shuttle services.

There are several places to eat on the property, including:

• Jack Binion’s Steak — upscale dining with steak, seafood and more (open Friday through Sunday)
• Foo Noodle Bar — authentic Asian fusion cuisine, including noodle soups, dim sum and more (open daily)
• H Burger — casual fare including burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, chicken tenders, shrimp baskets and more (open daily)
• 360 Pizza — brick-fired pizza on the go (open Thursday through Sunday)
• The Eatery Café — coffee, quick bites and more (open daily)

There is plenty of nightlife at the casino as well. The Sixth Street Bar is located near the poker room and serves locally crafted beers, imports and several seasonal brews. Then, the Push Lounge is located in the center of the casino. It operates 24 hours a day and features a nightclub-lounge vibe with a circular bar, video poker and several large TVs.

For entertainment, The Venue at Horseshoe Casino is a 90,000-square-foot, 2,500-seat space that hosts top musical and comedy acts on a regular basis. The space can also be rented for meetings and conferences.

There are also many nearby attractions worth exploring. These include the Lost Marsh Golf Course (actually two courses, one 18-hole and one 9-hole), the Navy Pier (shops, promenades, restaurants and parks), the 108-story Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and Wolf Lake (picnics hiking, fishing, bird watching).

Caesars Rewards

As a Caesars Entertainment-operated property, Horseshoe Hammond participates in the world-renowned Caesars Rewards loyalty program. Caesars Rewards members collect both Reward Credits and Tier Credits whenever they play games in the casino or spend money at Horseshoe Hammond.

The Rewards Credits can be redeemed in a variety of ways, including for discounts when dining or shopping. They can also be exchanged for free casino play at a rate of $1 per 200 Rewards Credits.

At the same time, members receive Tier Credits whenever they spend money at Horseshoe Hammond. They accumulate these Tier Credits on a yearly basis (going back to zero every Jan. 1). The amount of credits they collect determines their Caesars Rewards status according to the following system:

• Gold: 0-4,999 Tier Credits
• Platinum: 5,000-14,999 Tier Credits
• Diamond: 15,000-24,999 Tier Credits
• Diamond Plus: 25,000-74,999 Tier Credits
• Diamond Elite: 75,000-149,999 Tier Credits
• Seven Stars: 150,000+ Tier Credits (invitation only)

Moving up in tiers makes the member eligible for bigger and better rewards. Those benefits start with discounts and free hotel rooms and continue toward larger perks like travel packages, VIP benefits, gifts and more.

Also worth pointing out are the many casinos and hotels across the US that participate in the Caesars Rewards program. That means the Rewards Credits and Tier Credits you earn at Horseshoe Hammond are transferable to other participating properties and vice-versa. Three other Indiana casinos are part of the Caesars Rewards program: Caesars Southern Indiana, Harrah’s Hoosier Park and Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Horseshoe Hammond Casino history

The property now known as Horseshoe Hammond Casino first opened in June 1996 as Empress Casino Hammond, a riverboat casino opened by a group of Illinois-based investors as a sister property to the Joliet-based Empress Casino. In 1999, the Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation owned by Jack Binion acquired both casinos. In 2001, the Horseshoe company sold the Joliet property to the Argosy Gaming Company but kept the Hammond property and renamed it Horseshoe Hammond in May 2001.

The property changed hands again in 2004 when it was sold to Harrah’s Entertainment, which soon began major expansions. Transformed into a stationary barge looking out over Lake Michigan, the new casino opened in August 2008. Subsequently, Harrah’s was renamed Caesars Entertainment, and in 2017, Vici Properties took over ownership of the casino while Caesars continued as its operator.