Caesars Entertainment has plans to spend over $32 million to expand its Indiana Grand Racing venue, including adding a WSOP branded poker room.
Caesars Entertainment has plans to spend over $32 million to expand its Indiana Grand Racing venue, including adding a WSOP branded poker room.
Poker fans in and around Shelbyville, Indiana will be excited to hear that Caesars Entertainment has plans to upgrade its Indiana Grand Racing & Casino venue. More than $32 million will be spent to enhance the venue, including adding a new poker room based on the World Series of Poker brand.
Poker is always an enhancement to any casino or gambling space, especially when it includes quality branding. For the Indiana casino, the new live poker room will feature the World Series of Poker branding and will be huge, with 5,000 square feet of space. The room will be home to 20 poker tables.
The new poker room doesn’t just have WSOP branding. The casino will have a strong connection to the WSOP, with qualifiers for land-based events taking place at the facility. This means players can travel to the Indiana casino to compete for a shot at the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas as well as a host of other branded live events.
This is a big deal and will bring the specialized poker brand to a new community. Poker players from Indiana and surrounding states will flock to the region to be able to compete in the various WSOP qualifiers and events.
The expansion work is supposed to start in two weeks' time and the casino hopes to be finished by the end of 2020. There is no doubt the poker room will be busy from opening as it will provide a WSOP style experience as well as connected events. It will be interesting to see the types of events space will provide as well as how many will be WSOP marketed events.
With a $32 million budget, Caesars has more plans than just adding the WSOP branded poker room. Additional expansion work will include creating a larger gaming floor. Around 25,000 square feet will be added to the casino. This will allow the operator to provide 25 more table games and 100 slots.
With the expansion, the casino can employ 100 new individuals. Additional amenities will be added including entertainment, culinary, and hospitality options. What these are exactly will not be revealed until later in the year. The operator needs to be approved by regulators and the local government before moving forward with certain projects.
In 2020, Caesars officials indicated they would like to invest in its two properties in the state of Indiana. The company was part of a merger with Eldorado Resorts not long ago and both companies sold casino venues to complete the deal. The Indiana Grand and Hoosier Park were venues the operator planned on keeping.
Anthony Carano, Caesars President, and COO stated the company would like to invest in all of its casinos. The announcement regarding the Indiana Grand is a testament to the continued commitment to the state.
The investment is sure to bring more traffic to the already busy casino. Especially once the WSOP poker room is fully operational and offers signature events.