Hollywood Joliet Riverboat Announces Closing Ahead of Land-Based Casino Opening
Posted on: July 23, 2025, 11:19h.
Last updated on: July 23, 2025, 11:28h.
- The Hollywood Casino Joliet riverboat will close July 29
- The new Hollywood Casino Joliet opens August 11
- Penn Entertainment invested $185 million in the new land-based casino
The Hollywood Casino Joliet riverboat will take its final bets next week after 33 years of play.
Penn Entertainment announced Wenesday that its Joliet riverboat will shutter at 5:59 am CDT on July 29. The gaming boat along the Des Plaines River, roughly 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, will turn off its 900 slots and 18 live-dealer table games next Tuesday morning.
The riverboat’s closing is in anticipation of Hollywood Casino Joliet’s new land-based facility. The larger, brick-and-mortar casino will operate about two miles west of where the riverboat is located near the intersection of Interstates 80 and 55.
In 2019, Illinois lawmakers, through the state’s gaming expansion package that authorized an integrated resort casino in downtown Chicago and five rural casinos in the Windy City suburbs, provided riverboat casinos the option to move inland. The conditions for a land-based move include approval from the boat’s host municipality and a sign-off from the Illinois Gaming Board, accompanied by a $250K state fee.
New Hollywood Casino Joliet Opening
Penn Entertainment acquired its Illinois casino license in Joliet through its 2004 acquisition of Argosy Gaming. The $2.2 billion cash purchase brought six casinos into the Penn — then known as Penn National Gaming — portfolio.
One of those properties was the Argosy Empress Casino Joliet. Penn converted to Argosy to the Hollywood Casino Joliet following the takeover.
More than five years — and a pandemic — after Illinois allowed riverboats to move ashore, Penn decided to invest $185 million in Joliet. The forthcoming Hollywood Casino Joliet is set to open August 11.
The land-based Hollywood Joliet will feature over 1,000 slot machines, 43 live-dealer table games, a high-limit slots and table game area, and an ESPN Bet Sportsbook. An events center and several restaurants and bars, highlighted by celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis’ restaurant called Sorellina, will complement the casino.
We are incredibly excited about our future at the new location, which enhances our ability to serve guests and creates a top entertainment, gaming, and dining attraction in the region,” said Todd George, Penn’s executive vice president of operations.
The riverboat’s hotel will cease operations on July 26. The new casino won’t immediately offer on-site lodging, though there are many hotels nearby.
New Casino, New Branding
Hollywood Casino Joliet will feature the refreshed Hollywood branding that Casino.org broke the news on last month. Hollywood is doing away with its branding that featured a variation of the Hollywood Sign overlooking Los Angeles in favor of a sleeker, skinnier, cleaner typeface and logo.
Penn’s $185 million bet on Joliet is on increasing gaming revenue in Illinois’ third most populated city.
Through June, Hollywood Casino Joliet has generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $43.4 million from its slots and table games. Among the 17 casinos in Illinois, that ranks ninth.
Rivers Casino Des Plaines continues to dominate, with its year-to-date GGR at more than $249.7 million. Wind Creek Southland Chicago is at a distant second with GGR of approximately $96.1 million.
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