With the foundation for the American Place’s temporary casino in Waukegan being poured, company officials are becoming more focused on the plans for the future development of the $1.74-billion resort casino in the River West neighborhood of Chicago. Although the new gambling venue there is expected to attract a lot of interest from local customers, Full House Resorts do not see it as potential competition.
Full House Resorts’ senior vice president and chief development officer, Alex Stolyer, noted that the River West-based casino would have little impact on Waukegan’s temporary casino.
As mentioned above, a team of construction workers is currently pouring the foundation for the American Place casino – a 70,000-square-foot temporary gambling venue that is situated in close proximity to Waukegan’s Fountain Square shopping center. If everything goes according to plans, the construction will be completed by June 6th, when the Sprung structure is expected to arrive.
The Sprung structure is a tensioned membrane building, which construction is set to take about 7 weeks. After it is completed, workers are set to build the interior of the venue, including the restaurants and the gambling floor that will host 50 table games and 1,000 slot machines. Mr. Stolyer explained that the gaming equipment and tables are set to come at the very end of the process after the operator receives its operating permit from the Illinois gambling regulatory body.
The official opening of the casino is planned to take place this fall.
Full House Resorts’ Permanent Casino Resorts to Be Established in about 3 Years
According to Alex Stolyer, American Place’s main competition for customers will come from Milwaukee-based Potawatomi Hotel and Casino and the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. He further shared that the 5-star luxury suites hotel that is set to be established along with his company’s permanent resort in about 3 years would provide Full House Resorts with some advantage. He also shared that getting a full experience is what premium customers want, and the permanent casino of the brand would be able to give them that. A sportsbook operated by Circa Sportsbook will be available at the venue, too.
Currently, the casino operator is working in partnering with the city of Waukegan to get the necessary permits, with the company’s application to obtain a license from the Illinois Gaming Board now ongoing. It was confirmed that Full House Resorts is now seeking approval for various aspects of its operation, such as surveillance plans and security.
Mr. Stolyer also confirmed that the hiring of the senior-level staff has already started. He further noted that an opening date is usually required when people are being secured to work on the casino floor table games and machines. That is exactly the reason why Full House Resorts plans to start hiring dealers, slot machine technicians, and people serving food and beverages, as soon as an opening date for the casino is officially scheduled.
According to reports, about 260 dealers will work at the American Place casino, which will operate 24/7, every day of the week. As revealed by Full House Resorts’ senior vice president and chief development officer, about 50% of them will be experienced dealers, while the rest of them will be new to the industry.
