Harrah’s Joliet Casino has permanently closed its poker room.

Most Illinois poker rooms are closed indefinitely due to COVID-19, but Harrah’s has decided to cease operations for good.

Poker For some real all-in action, take a seat in our enclosed Hollywood Poker Room. Our featured games are Texas Hold ’Em, Seven Card Stud, and Omaha, plus special high-stakes tables. To find out more about our poker events call 1-800-871-0711 ext. 274 rows Bringing you all the tournament poker action from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
We regret to inform you that the Poker Room will be permanently closing. As you are aware, there is a Bad Beat Jackpot that has not hit since October 19, 2019. We are distributing this money via a drawing to those who had play at Bad Beat eligible games in our Poker Room between 10/20/19 and 3/15/20. The drawing will take place on October 28, 2020.

At Hollywood Casino Joliet you’ll find the best gaming action and excitement, with over 1,000 state-of-the-art slot and video poker machines, including the most penny slots in Joliet!

On Oct. 28, the poker room will award $427,800 in bad-beat jackpot money via a drawing. Anyone who played jackpot-eligible games between Oct. 20, 2019, and March 15, 2020, will be entered into the drawing.

Entries will be based on the total number of hours that people played during that time period.

Hollywood Casino Joliet Poker Room News

Here’s more info from the Harrah’s official website:

“The drawing will take place on October 28, 2020. Entries are determined based on hours and minutes played during this time period. We will select 150 winners who will each receive $2,852. Winners do not need to be present to win. We will attempt to contact all winners by phone or email. In addition, we will post the list of winners below. The list of winners will also be available at Caesars Rewards. Winners will reserve a time slot to receive their payment and will have until November 30, 2020, to collect their prize. Please see Caesars Rewards for complete rules and regulations.

The statement did not provide a reason for the closure.

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What the Harrah’s Joliet poker room offered

There were eight poker tables at Harrah’s Joliet, and the poker room was open every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. before the pandemic.

The World Series Of Poker Room, as it was called, offered players live-action Texas Hold’em and Omaha games.

Deep Stack, Bounty, Mini-Deep and Bounty Deep Stack tournaments would take place on Saturdays.

Harrah’s also hosted a WSOP Poker League, a nine-week competition where the winner would earn a main event seat in Las Vegas. The tournament also offered weekly prizes.

Other poker rooms closed indefinitely

Prior to the Harrah’s news, six of Illinois’ 10 casinos had poker rooms:

Grand Victoria Casino Elgin
Harrah’s Joliet
Harrah’s Metropolis
Hollywood Casino Aurora
Jumer’s Casino & Hotel
Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino

Like Harrah’s, Grand Victoria Casino Elgin is also a Caesars property.

The casinos have all been open since July, but the poker rooms are closed indefinitely. Based on how COVID-19 cases are climbing in Illinois, that likely won’t change soon.

The poker rooms have been closed since March.

Hollywood Casino Joliet Poker Room Events

That’s the case in many US regions at the moment, but a few Indiana poker rooms have reopened. Four Winds Casino South Bend’s poker room, for instance, opened on Tuesday.

Hollywood Casino Joliet Poker Room Menu

The retail gambling industry continues to hurt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.