The restaurant options will serve day trippers well.

Blackjack, which pays 3:2, had minimums of $15 or $25 on the main floor. I heard reports of abnormally high table limits, but I didn’t see anything unexpected. It’s a standard assortment, but baccarat seems to be the most popular and most accessible for low rollers–I saw plenty of $10 minimum baccarat on my Saturday night visit. Baccarat galoreĪccording to their own literature, the casino offers over 50 table games. There are no good VP pay tables at the quarter level, but I’ll take what I can get from a casino so close to home. Thought, there is a nice variety of slots and video poker. There’s not much maneuverability, especially on a busy weekend night. The casino’s footprint is modest, wrapping the elevated, spacious center bar. It won’t raise any eyebrows, but Rivers does the job if you’re looking to get a few wagers down between conference sessions or before your flight out of town. For the record, you pronounce the ‘s’ in “Des Plaines” but not in “Illinois”. Rivers Casino Des Plaines is the closest Illinois casino to downtown Chicago. The best options, especially with Indiana expediting legal sports betting, are just over the eastern border of Illinois. There are a smattering of serviceable, albeit unexciting, casinos in the Chicagoland area. My wife and I were one of the unfortunate few who stayed longer than we probably should have.Chicago has a ways to go be considered a great gambling destination. In retrospect, it was probably better off they left. Unfortunately, several of these customers left broke and upset without ever being able to obtain their well deserved promotional free play. There were several people who we spoke with who came just for the promotional free play who ended up loosing all their own personal money while waiting for promotional kiosks to work.

Almost seemed intentional to get people playing using their own money during this time period. Fast forward 2+ hours later and the issue was finally fixed. Kept being told by different employees the issue should be fixed in 5 min. We arrived at 8:20am and upon arrival, we were informed the promotional kiosks were all down and inoperable and that they were working to resolve the issue. My wife and I decided to make the long drive up.

Saw a 4th of July Promotion for Ocean Downs regarding picking fireworks and winning free play.

Ocean downs casino table minimums