The grand opening of the new Wind Creek Chicago Southland Casino was on Veteran Day (11/11/24), but to avoid the massive crowds, I waited until today (11/20) to check it out.
Parking is free and they have a big parking garage. There are also some parking spaces located outside next to the garage. There's an enclosed walkway from the garage to the casino. You can see the walkway on the lower left side of the building in the photo below.
Wind Creek is located in East Hazel Crest, IL which is about a 1 hr drive south of Downtown Chicago. Although with all of the roadwork being done on I-90/94 around the downtown area, traffic was a nightmare so it took about 1.5 hrs going and over 2 hrs returning home.
Wind Creek is the principal gaming and hospitality entity for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. For more detailed information check out their website.
Wind Creek Chicago Southland Casino
17300 S. Halsted St.
East Hazel Crest, IL 60429
Wind Creek is a nice property. Of course, I say that about most of the new casinos that I've visited. Who doesn't like playing in brand new casinos that are fresh and clean with brand new Slots/VP machines, new food vendors, etc.
A place to get snacks before entering the main casino area.
Entrance to the casino floor. They also have a sign, "Entering Weapons Detection Area".
I was surprised that they weren't giving new player club members any freeplay like a lot of other casinos tend to do when they had their grand opening. I hope this isn't going to be the new trend when new casino properties open.
The casino staff that I interacted with were all friendly and helpful too. There were cocktail waitresses on the casino floor and they also had self-serve soft drink machines too. They had live entertainment on the casino floor, but I'm assuming that it's still part of their grand opening celebration.
Not all of the food vendor are open, but here are a few of them.
 |
A few more photos of the casino area.
They also have a good number of table games and quite a few people were playing. Although, I didn't take any photos of that area.
They have an area towards the back of the casino where all their VP machines are located. However, the area is rather small which isn't surprising. LOL Pay tables varied depending on the game. I did find some 9/6 Bonus Poker
Of course, I spent a couple of hours playing VP and turned my initial $100 into just under $300, but I cashed out with a net win of about $50 so it was a winning day. LOL
I started out playing 9/6 Bonus Poker which was hitting on and off, then switched over to Deuces Wild Bonus Poker. These were my best 2 hits of the day playing Deuces Wild Bonus Poker, but I had a number of smaller wins in-between.
Overall, I like Wind Creek. However, I probably didn't see all of the nooks and crannies of the property, since I was only there for a few hours and spent a good part of the time playing VP. LOL
Their rewards program is somewhat different than Caesars or Boyd, for example, and it takes awhile to figure out some of the ways to earn both tier credits and points. They also have an app (Casinoverse) where you can earn more rewards. Their tier system is based on the calendar year. For Slots, 1 Tier Credit = $5 coin-in and for VP, 1 Tier Credit = $10 coin-in. They have more details on their loyal program over on their website.
Their hotel isn't open yet, but I heard that it'll open next Spring. I don't know what their hotel rates will be and if they'll have the infamous "resort fees", but if I can get some comp rooms, it might be a nice place for a one or two night stay-ca-tion.
