Tropicana Evansville

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Tropicana Evansville will likely be sold by the end of 2020, according to multiple reports Saturday detailing the terms of parent company Eldorado Resorts' acquisition of. Tropicana Evansville offers comfortable hotel rooms on the Ohio river and the hottest table-games, slots and video-gaming in Indiana on their casino floor. Caesars Rewards Local Caesars Entertainment and Eldorado Resorts have come together to create new experiences for you.

Tropicana Evansville was originally named Casino Aztar and was Indiana’s first casino opening in 1995. The complex has a casino, hotel and entertainment center located in downtown Evansville, Ind. The casino is operated by Eldorado Resorts and is a sister hotel of the Tropicano Hotel and Casino located in Las Vegas. The newly opened sportsbook is run in partnership with William Hill.

While the casino floor is by no means the biggest at just over 38,000 square feet, it does pack in the games and tables. It has over 1,100 slots and over 60 tables and poker tables.

Tropicana Evansville Coupons

That is more than some of the casinos that have over 50,000 square feet of casino area. Between hotel Le Merigot and the Tropicana Hotel, there are 346 hotel rooms. The casino is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Promotions

If you go to the website, you know there are plenty of promotions at the Tropicana Evansville. The big one that catches your eye is the Mercedes-Benz giveaway. From Jan. 5 to Feb. 22, you can enter the contest using your Trop Rewards points.

For every 25 points, you gain one entry into the contest. Tropicana Evansville will have a contest every Saturday to gain bonus entries, with the grand prize drawing to occur on Feb. 22.

Tropicana also does something that leaves most casinos looking behind the times. They have a weekly Facebook contest for free play. Two winners will receive $200 in free play and one $100 in free play just by commenting on the Facebook post.

For the older players, it offers a few Club 55 contests. For gamblers 55 and over, Tropicana Evansville offers a slot tournament every Monday from 9 am to 4:30 pm. There are 120 winners every week. On Thursdays, you can enter a drawing to be eligible for $100 in free play.

Since sports betting is now legal, the casino is offering a Big Game party that costs $20 to get in. There are drawings, giveaways and free bets. William Hill is giving away $100 bets throughout the game and five $100 free bets at the end of the third quarter.

Tropicana Evansville Casino

Gaming

While the Tropicana Evansville doesn’t have the biggest floor, it still has plenty to offer. Sports betting, slots, table games, and a poker room can all be found inside.

Table games

Tropicana Evansville has over 30 table games with all of your favorite games. The Trop has a really nice high-limit room that is smoke-free.

• Blackjack
• 21+3 + Top 3 Blackjack
• Craps
• Roulette
• Mini-Baccarat
• Mississippi Stud
• Omaha
• Three Card Poker
• Texas Hold ’Em

Poker room

The poker room is smoke-free and offers a lot of different tables. The limits range from low to high, and it offers Omaha and Texas Hold ’em. Tropicana Evansville doesn’t have weekly tournaments, but it does maintain a nice monthly tournament schedule.

Slots

There are 1,121 slot machines offered at the Tropicana Evansville. The new remodel offers a lot of new machines with your favorite game. They offer penny slots up to $100 slot machines.

• Ten Times Pay Red, White and Blue
• Burning Bars
• Super 7s
• 5 Dragons Gold
• 5 Stars
• 88 Fortunes
• African Diamonds
• Aladdin’s Fortune 3D
• Blazing 7s
• Dancing Drums
• Dragon Link
• Emerald Falls
• Monopoly Money

On top of the really nice slot selection, Tropicana Evansville also offers a great selection of video poker machines.

William Hill Sportsbook

William Hill is a common name for anyone associated with sports betting. William Hill is the top sports betting operator in the United States.

As of now, you do have to come to the casino to place your bets in person, but William Hill does have an app designed, and it will soon be up and functioning in Indiana. Its mobile app is up and running in New Jersey and seems to be going very well.

A big advantage is that William Hill offers one of the most expansive lists of sports and games to bet on. All the American professional sports are listed as well as NCAA sports.

If you have a sport that is not as popular that you like to bet, it lists lines for darts, cricket, rugby as well as many others. Parlays, teasers, moneylines, futures, live betting; you name it, the William Hill sportsbook at Tropicana Evansville has it.

Hours of operations

• Monday – Friday: 10 am – midnight
• Saturday and Sunday: 8 am – midnight

Rewards program

Tropicana Evansville has an in-house rewards program called Trop Advantage. It is pretty much the common rewards program structure with a special bonus program for guests 55 and over called Club 55.

You can earn cash, hotel discounts, free dining, free entries, and tons of special promotions. You earn points through slot play, 15 minutes of table play, and poker room time.

Online gaming

William Hill will eventually have a mobile app, but it is not currently up and running in Indiana. Tropicana does have a free online casino, but in Indiana, you cannot bet real money in a casino online. You can use the online points for rewards, just like in the Trop Advantage program.

Dining

While the gaming floor isn’t huge, the whole center connecting the two hotels means there are a lot of dining options. The Tropicana Evansville center contains seven restaurants and one bar. We will review the ones directly connected or inside the casino.

Cavanaugh’s On The River

The steak and seafood house is the fine-dining choice. It has a great selection of meat and a wine list that would make any restaurant jealous. The fresh seafood is always a treat, but the prices do tend to be on the higher side, with entrees ranging from a little above $20 to up to $75.

Hours of operation

• Closed Sunday and Monday
• Tuesday – Thursday: 5 pm – 10 pm
• Friday and Saturday: 5 pm – 11 pm

The Brew Brothers Tap House

This bar-and-grill-style restaurant features a great beer menu and delicious appetizers, burgers, and great fish and chips. There are 36 beers on tap, so you will definitely find something to enjoy while following your sports bet from William Hill.

Hours of operation

• Sunday – Thursday: 11 am – 11 pm (Drinks served until 3 am every night)
• Friday and Saturday: 9 am – 11 pm

The Deli

Every casino has to have a quick grab-and-go-style place for the gamblers who don’t want to miss out on the action. The Deli is open 24 hours a day, so you can always find something to eat no matter what time you are doing your gambling.

It is designed to resemble a New York-style deli. It offers deli sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, polish sausage, and a nice selection of side dishes. Its grab-and-go breakfast is extremely popular among the early morning players.

The Kitchen Buffet

The buffet at Tropicana Evansville is only open on the weekends. It serves brunch on Sunday and a breakfast-only selection Saturday and Sunday mornings. On Friday nights, it offers dinner only.

Hours of operation

• Friday: 4 pm – 10 pm $21.95
• Saturday and Sunday Breakfast: 7 am – 10:30 am $10.95
• Saturday Lunch: 11 am – 2:30 pm $14.95
• Sunday Brunch: 11 am – 2:30 pm $16.95
• Saturday Dinner: 4 pm – 10 pm $21.95
• Sunday Dinner: 4 pm – 9 pm $17.95

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Entertainment

Cavanaugh’s offers a piano bar as well as live entertainment on the weekends. It brings in some of the more popular bands in the Evansville area. There is a convention and meeting space, but no nightclub or arena area for concerts on property.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — With about 13,000 employees sidelined statewide – including 529 in the Evansville area – Indiana casinos are eager to get back to business.

Gaming properties closed March 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tropicana Evansville and others across the state want to reopen by mid-June. There’s a lot to do before then.

“The industry as a whole is taking its responsibilities very seriously to provide a safe environment for team members and guests,” said Matt Bell, executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana.

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The association, Bell said, has shared with the Indiana Gaming Commission a set of “minimum standards” for worker and guest safety, and “every property should submit individual plans to meet or exceed those.”

Tropicana Evansville officials declined to comment, citing company policy. The local casino is owned by Eldorado Resorts.

“Obviously it’s going to look a little different from property to property because they all have unique nuances,” Bell said. “But there will be things like hand sanitizer stations throughout the floor. It’s going to be important our team members and guests have an opportunity to wear masks.

“We’ll set up our floors to accommodate social distancing, and that could look different casino to casino. Whether it’s occupying every other slot machine, or moving them to provide social distancing. We could do things like limit folks at a particular table game. We’ll have aggressive cleaning procedures, wiping down machines, tables and rails, trying to minimize touchpoints.”

Casinos also must evaluate things such as valet parking, which Bell said likely will not be offered at first, and buffet dining. Tropicana has multiple restaurants, plus a sportsbook that opened in September.

Bell noted that Gov. Eric Holcomb, in presenting his multi-phase process to reopen Indiana amid the pandemic, did not discuss reopening scenarios for casinos.

Bell surmised that might have been because of complexities casinos present.

“It’s a high-touch, social environment,” Bell said. “The challenge is, how do you find the right protective measures that give customers confidence to come back, without making it feel like a danger zone?”

Bell, though, believes mid-June is a realistic expectation for reopening. He said Indiana’s casino industry will search for best practices in safety.

“We’ll start to see some other markets come back in operation over the next couple weeks, so there are going to be opportunities to watch and learn,” Bell said.

Evansville city government has already cut $2.8 million from its 2020 budget due to Tropicana’s closure. That cut was based on an anticipated closure of two months. A mid-June reopening would extend the closure another month, potentially forcing another budget cut.

Road paving and blight removal were among the city programs negatively impacted by the first cut.

Ellis Park examining protocols

Ellis Park, meanwhile, is working with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Gov. Andy Beshear's office on reopening timeframes and new safety protocols.

General Manager Jeff Inman said he did not want to speculate on a reopening date for the property's historic horse racing machines and restaurant.

'Safety and cleanliness are paramount,' Inman said. 'There will be 6 feet between every game. We won’t reopen with a buffet. We will reopen with disposable utensils; we will wipe down often-used surfaces and will offer customers sanitizing wipes.'

The live horse racing season at Ellis Park is still scheduled to begin June 28. But there will be no live racing on Sept. 5, when the Kentucky Derby is rescheduled.

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'We didn’t feel we could get in the way of the Super Bowl and World Series of horse racing,' Inman said. 'Those have been very collegial talks. We want a Kentucky Derby to happen.'

Tropicana Evansville Casino Entertainment

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Tropicana Evansville, Ellis Park working on reopen schedules, safety protocols