- Horseshoe Lake Charles will open today, December 12th.
- The former Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino riverboat will transfer to a 60,000 square-foot land-based facility with over 1,000 slot machines and table games.
- Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino was the first Louisiana riverboat casino to receive approval to move to land.
The former Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino will be reopening as the Horseshoe Lake Charles today, December 12th.
A ribbon-cutting event will be held at 11:30 a.m. after which, Houston furniture store owner and popular sports bettor Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale will place the first-ever bet at the casino’s new land-based location.
West Lake Mayor Dan Racca has declared Monday, December 12th as “Horseshoe Day”. The casino doors will open at noon and its first 2,000 guests will receive a “special gift”. The celebration will continue throughout the day and will culminate with a fireworks display over the lake at 9 p.m.
Said Caesars Entertainment President and COO Anthony Carano in a statement:
Horseshoe Lake Charles Officially Comes Ashore
We are making strides towards opening day. Horseshoe Lake Charles cannot wait to welcome you back through the doors on Monday, December 12th at Noon.#HintsofHorseshoe #HelloHorseshoe pic.twitter.com/cTOD4U2NQx
— Horseshoe Lake Charles (@HorseshoeLC) December 1, 2022,
The 60,000 square foot land-based property will feature 1,000 slot machines and table games as well as a World Series of Poker poker room and a retail Caesars Sportsbook. The all-new property will also have a 253-room hotel designed with inspiration from local scenery. It will have several food and beverage options, including multi-Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay’s Gordon Ramsay Steak which is expected to open in mid-2023.
Other popular names in the new casino’s impressive culinary line-up include Brews Brothers, the award-winning brewpub founded by the Carano family in 1957, Seven Noodle Bar, a Pan-Asian inspired noodles restaurant that features stir-fried entrees, hearty soups, sushi, and an assortment-of-noodle-dishes, and Slice Pizzeria and Pasta. Meanwhile, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins are expected to open their own shops there next year.
Caesars Entertainment also operates another Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, which is less than 200 miles from Horseshoe Lake Charles. The gambling giant also has two other casinos in the Bayou State, namely Caesars New Orleans and Harrah’s New Orleans. Caesars also holds naming rights to the New Orleans Saints football stadium.
First Riverboat Casino in Louisiana Approved to Move to Land
Isle of Capri Casino stuck under the Lake Charles bridge… pic.twitter.com/K8ytMdrY8B
— Peggy (@Pegredd) August 27, 2020
The former Isle of Capri Casino was the first riverboat casino to be given the approval to move to land by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board in 2019. The $112.7 million project was supposed to open last May 2021 but the existing riverboat and the proposed site of the land-based casino were destroyed by Hurricane Laura in August 2020.
It can be recalled that during the wake of the Category 4 hurricane, the riverboat’s hotel was ripped off and the casino boat was turned loose from its moorings, causing it to be stuck under the Calcasieu River Bridge on the I-10 for several hours. While the other casinos that were damaged by the hurricane opened later, the Isle remained closed.
In August 2021, Caesars Entertainment announced that the construction of the casino had commenced, and the plan to reopen the Isle as the Horseshoe Casino Lake Charles in the fall of 2022. Although the new Horseshoe Lake Charles didn’t make it to its original autumn deadline, it will finally be reopening before the end of this year.
