casinos
Casinos: Ameristar revamps, links to Las Vegas
As Chicago area casinos slowly recover from the big hit they took in the recession, Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, Ind. is trying a couple of ways to differentiate itself from the competition. One way is to team up with MGM Resorts to give Ameristar …
Craps odds help manage house risk
For craps players on a budget, the free odds are best used to reduce wagers on pass and come. Pass and come each have a house edge of 1.41 percent, while there is no house edge on the odds, a bet that can be made …
New slots tap movies, TV, music themes
New, popular slot machines are grabbing themes from our pop culture, tapping television, movies and even pop music to make the games more interesting and entertaining.
Know the odds on this hot video poker game
It pays to know the odds on Double Double Bonus Poker, one of the most popular video poker games around, and also one of the higher-paying games you’ll see in the Chicago area.
Gamer tales often as daring as the games
Some tales told ‘round the tables are serious, some are funny, and some are, well, just plain unbelieveable.
Grand Victoria casino means non-stop fun, excitement
Grand Victoria Casino is located in Elgin, which makes it a convenient “neighbor” to a lot of the Chicago region’s residents.
Once in awhile, a mistake turns out well
One of my standard warnings to players is to never overbet your bankroll. If you bet too large a percentage of your budget for the day’s entertainment on each bet, the usual result is that you’ll be heading home early, or worse, digging for extra …
Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa the place to be in northwest Indiana
Located in Michigan City just off the Lake Michigan shore, and only about an hour’s drive east of Chicago, Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa offers a complete gaming, dining and entertainment destination.
Rivers Casino the newest world-class gaming mecca
Rivers Casino offers nearly 1,050 slots and nearly 50 table games, dining options, entertainment venues and top-flight customer service. This and more is found on the entirely non-smoking 43,000-square-foot gaming floor.
Potawatomi Bingo Casino a major dining, gaming, fun destination
More than 3,100 slot machines and about 100 table games make Potawatomi Bingo Casino a premier gaming destination. Add an off-track betting room and the famous 1,350-seat Bingo Hall, and there isn’t a game that can’t be found here.
Hollywood casinos in Aurora, Joliet treat you like stars
Hollywood Casino offers two exciting locations, one in Aurora and one in Joliet, where gamers can get twice the thrills close to home, which provide double the dining, the nightlife and entertainment, and gaming excitement.
Cheating is the worst gamble
Even with a dealer, a floor supervisor and a pit supervisor, and even with electronic surveillance, sometimes things happen on table games that shouldn’t. Payout mistakes are made, and usually caught. A player is mistakenly given a card he doesn’t want, and that gets corrected, …
Yes, same slots may have varying RNGs
There’s a large subset of my e-mail that comes from slot players who start by saying, “I get that the games are random, but . . . ” Then they tell of a slot experience that doesn’t seem quite right to them. The latest came …
Two publications worth checking out
As a casino value-seeker both by inclination and bankroll, I look forward each year to the Las Vegas Advisor’s member rewards booklet and to the new edition of the American Casino Guide. Both are on my desk now, and I look forward to plotting out …
Random results are the name of the game
A shuffle through the Gaming mailbag: Q. Do video poker machines with progressive jackpots on royal flushes deal fewer small winners to make up for the bigger jackpots? Ed, St. Charles A. No, the programming in video poker doesn’t allow for a lower frequency of …
Whole lotta Elvis slot play going on
Pop culture has been a fertile field for slot machine designers for a couple of decades now. In any trip to a casino, we expect to see games based on games and game shows (Monopoly, “Wheel of Fortune”), TV shows (“Star Trek,” “The Beverly Hillbillies”) …