Greektown Casino-Hotel operator Penn National Gaming inked multi-year agreements with several leading sports betting operators for online and mobile sports betting and online gambling market access in July 2019.
These operators include DraftKings Sportsbook, theScore, PointsBet Sportsbook, and The Stars Group.
The initial plan included subsidiary Penn Interactive Ventures LLC managing the different relationships and the company’s primary sports betting and online gaming initiatives through a partnership with service provider Kambi.
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Under the terms of the different agreements, The Stars Group was given the option to own, operate and brand real-money online sports betting, poker and casino second-skin offerings in Michigan. Plus, theScore was given the option to own, operate and brand third-skin offerings.
Unfortunately, language in the Michigan sports betting legislation limits license holders to one skin.
This makes second- and third-skin access in the state worthless and leaves the question of who will run online and mobile sports betting for Greektown Casino-Hotel unanswered.
Penn National Gaming subsidiary Penn Online Entertainment inked a five-year deal with International Game Technology in 2018. This makes Greektown Casino-Hotel’s online casino software partner a little more obvious.
The agreement is for IGT to provide a full suite of digital gaming products, including online casino platform and services, to Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino at Penn National Racecourse property in Pennsylvania. The property launched the HollywoodCasino.com online casino on the IGT platform in 2019.
Penn National Gaming also signed NetEnt as a game provider partner for the site.
If Penn National Gaming wants to launch a Greektown Casino-Hotel-branded online casino, both agreements could be extended to include Michigan online gambling.
Greektown Casino-Hotel is home to a 100,000-square-foot casino.
Inside, you’ll find approximately 2,800 gaming machines, 60 table games and a live poker room. That means a huge variety of slots, video poker machines, and one of the largest selection of table games in Michigan.
This includes Greektown Casino-Hotel’s unique PULSE Table Games, an electronic table game experience combining live dealer games with advanced interconnected game tables.
There’s also a private High Limit Gaming Area with over 90 high-limit slots and dozens of casino table games, including roulette, baccarat and a salon with six blackjack tables.
The casino at Greektown Casino-Hotel runs a variety of promotions, giving you the chance to win cash, Bonu$ Play and prizes.
Here’s a list of promotions:
Greektown Casino-Hotel is home to nearly 3,000 slots and video poker machines. You’ll find everything from penny slots to $100 slots and video poker on the property.
Classics like Blazing 7s, Buffalo and Super Jackpot Party are there, as are progressive jackpot slots like Buffalo Grand, Lightning Link and Wheel of Fortune.
Greektown Casino-Hotel is also committed to continually adding new slots, with games including Panda Fu Dai Lian Lian, Buffalo Gold Collection and JAMES BOND 007- Goldfinger among those hitting the floor recently.
You can roll the dice, spin the wheel, and hit, split, stand or double down at 60 table games inside Greektown Casino-Hotel.
In fact, Greektown Casino-Hotel claims its Super Pit is home to the best table game action in Detroit.
Here’s a full list of the table games available on the property:
For now, the Greektown Casino-Hotel also offers you the chance to join its GT Rewards program, combining a traditional casino loyalty rewards program with the Greektown Casino mobile app. However, Greektown Casino-Hotel is transitioning to Penn National Gaming’s mychoice loyalty program in 2020.
GT Rewards is free to enter and gives you the chance to earn rewards with all gameplay. The program also includes prize giveaways, hotel and dining discounts, offers and VIP options for parking and exclusive promotions.
There are five membership levels, each offering increased benefits. All members earn comps, cash back, Bonu$ Play and tier points.
Tier points allow you to move up through the program’s five membership levels
All members earn tier points according to the following schedule:
GT Connect is the Greektown Casino mobile app. It works in concert with GT Rewards, allowing you to use a virtual players card on your mobile device by plugging the device into a slot machine or scanning a barcode at table games.
GT Connect will also allow you to charge your mobile device at slot machines and table games and use the virtual players card everywhere on the property you use a traditional players card.
Greektown Casino is making a major investment in sports betting in 2020.
Penn National Gaming has reportedly put $1 million into construction of a temporary sports betting lounge on the property it hopes to open by March 2020. Plus, it is putting millions more into a 5,000- to 6,000-square-foot permanent sportsbook in the center of the casino floor. The permanent sportsbook will eventually replace Greektown Casino-Hotel’s underperforming Synergy electronic table games section.
Plans for both the temporary and permanent sportsbooks include walls covered with HDTV screens, betting kiosks and bars.
Ultimately, Greektown Casino-Hotel sports betting will be accessible at the street level just blocks from Comerica Park and Ford Field, where the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions play.
Greektown officials have also expressed interest in running an online and mobile sportsbook.
Penn National Gaming initially promised second-skin Michigan online gambling and online and mobile sports betting access to The Stars Group and third-skin access to theScore Inc. It also clearly stated plans to retain control of its primary online and mobile sports betting license.
However, Michigan law allows for only one skin, putting the company’s initial plans up in the air.
Considering the prime location, Greektown Casino-Hotel officials have particularly high hopes for retail sports betting. The hope is that the Greektown Casino-Hotel sportsbook will be a popular pregame and postgame location for Tigers and Lions games, providing a shot in the arm for the property and downtown Detroit.
Ultimately, Greektown Casino-Hotel is expecting retail sports betting to provide it with a 10% revenue boost and a new customer acquisition tool it can use to attract people who never had a reason to come to a casino before.
Greektown Casino-Hotel is home to a 12-table smoke-free poker room that spreads hold ’em and Omaha cash games and tournaments.
The poker room is filled with plasma TVs and offers complimentary snacks and drinks.
Players earn $1 an hour in comps for live play in any game. Plus, promotions include $300 (hold ’em) and $200 (Omaha) high hands and a $1,000 for quads beaten.
The regular tournament schedule includes:
Greektown Casino-Hotel features a 400-room 30-story AAA Four Diamond hotel in historic Greektown. The hotel offers downtown Detroit skyline and river views and comfortable, modern and contemporary decor.
The hotel also includes 20,000 square feet of convention space and a 4,000-square-foot grand ballroom.
There’s a Starbucks in the lobby and direct access to the casino.
Greektown Casino-Hotel offers special perk-filled play-and-stay hotel packages.
Greektown Casino-Hotel offers a wide selection of dining options and bars.
The Monroe Market and Noodle Art eateries are on the third level of the casino.
Noodle Art promises traditional Japanese ramen with a Detroit twist.
Monroe Market has something for everyone, with an 11,000-square-foot communal dining room featuring fast-casual eateries such as:
Being in Greektown means Greektown Casino-Hotel is steps away from many of Detroit’s best restaurants.
Thanks to agreements with many of these establishments, you can use the comps you’ve earned at Greektown Casino-Hotel to dine there.
Greektown restaurants accepting Greektown Casino-Hotel comps include:
A proposal to establish three non-tribal commercial casinos in Detroit was approved by Michigan voters in 1996.
In 1997, the Michigan Gaming Control & Revenue Act was passed, authorizing the launch of three licensed Detroit casinos.
The MGM Grand Detroit opened in July 1999 and the MotorCity Casino Hotel opened in December 1999.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and a group of investors holding 10% of the business were granted the third commercial casino license.
The tribe launched Detroit’s third commercial casino operation, Greektown Casino-Hotel, on Nov. 10, 2000. The casino opened on Monroe Street in the city’s Greektown Historic District inside a building that originally housed fur trapper Traugott Schmidt’s fur processing center. It had been the five-story Trapper’s Alley mall since 1985.
In 2007, a 400-room hotel and a 13-story parking garage were opened next to the casino. Additional casino floor space was added over Lafayette Street in 2008, bringing the total to 100,000 square feet.
A year later, 20,000 square feet of convention space and a 4,000-square-foot grand ballroom were built.
Parent company Greektown Casino LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2008, claiming it had faced financial and logistics problems, mostly with parking, since it opened. The property had never truly met financial goals, and revenue was down 4.6% at the time.
However, a financial consulting firm working on the bankruptcy said the casino was a healthy and profitable business using Chapter 11 for reorganization.
The casino continued to operate as normal.
Greektown Casino-Hotel emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2010. A new corporation, Greektown Superholdings Inc. and subsidiary Greektown Newco Sub Inc. assumed 100% ownership.
However, Rock Gaming, a joint venture between Caesars Entertainment and Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, acquired a majority interest in 2013.
Rock Gaming became Jack Entertainment and changed the name of most of its other casino properties. In 2016, plans were made to change the name of the Greektown Casino-Hotel to Jack Detroit Casino-Hotel. Those plans were delayed and eventually dropped.
In 2018, Penn National Gaming and VICI Properties entered into an agreement to purchase Greektown Casino-Hotel for $1 billion in cash.
VICI Properties bought the land and real estate assets for $700 million. Penn National Gaming paid $300 million to Jack Entertainment to take over operations and agreed to lease the property from VICI for $55.6 million per year.
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