Ellen and I hit the new Indian casino in New Buffalo Michigan (on the Indiana border near the lake).
It is a very large operation with Hotel and a lot of land. There is a little bit of Indian theme (especially on the outside with a log facade) but the overall impression in the casino is that it looks a lot like Red Rock Station. Same circular design with the restaurants spread around the outside. The surfaces are either wood or rock.
Since the casino is not a real reservation, there are bars and they have cocktail waitresses serving the casino floor (not free drinks). Relatively low smoke level for a Indian casino or compared to the other Indiana casinos.
Good mix of modern machines, more tables than their local competition.
Ellen as usual hit them for a several hundred bucks while I lost my allotment. She hit pretty consistently for a while on a Flaming 7 machine.
They have about 5 restaurants ranging from high end steakhouse to deli and buffet. We ate at the steakhouse. Not bad, pricey like all steakhouses. As decoration at the entrance they had a chunk of native copper in rock about 3 feet across. for those with the geological bend, very interesting.
Overall a better visual impression than the competition. I think they are going to hurt the Boyd Blue Chip in Michigan City quite badly. They are clearly looser and the papers show as an Indian operation they only have about half the tax load of the regular Indiana casinos. I think Harrah's in Hammond is safe just because of the distance even though 4 Winds in running buses from downtown Chicago and has especially targeted Chinatown.
You hit it right on the head! Today in the LVRJ, story about Boyd cutting back employess at Blue chip, 6% of the work force lay-offs. Looks like they even see the handwritting on the wall already!
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