If gambling is your game then Detroit and nearby Windsor, Ont., have what you re looking for four casinos with every game imaginable plus top-notch restaurants and entertainment.
Detroit has three of the casinos Greektown, MGM Grand, and MotorCity. Combined, they had $1.18 billion in revenues last year, an increase of 5.2 percent from 2003 despite construction and parking problems, according to Gaming News. A 41-day strike at the Casino Windsor and a weaker dollar also boosted business at the Detroit casinos last year.
This year, overall revenue was down at MotorCity and Greektown in February but up enough at MGM to show an overall increase from the same period last year, according to Gaming News.
Among the Detroit casinos, all of which are open 24 hours, Greektown, 555 East Lafayette Blvd., features 2,411 gaming machines, 87 gaming tables, and three restaurants over 75,000 square feet. The casino, the only Michigan-owned Detroit gaming house, is 90 percent owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, with a group of Detroit investors owning the other 10 percent.
Among the gaming tables at Greektown are baccarat, blackjack, casino war, craps, pai gow poker, standard poker, roulette, and Texas hold em.
The restaurants include Alley Grille Steakhouse, the Grapevine Cafe, and Olympia.
The casino features free valet parking. It s located in the Greektown neighborhood, which features numerous Mediterranean restaurants and clubs.
The casino at the MGM, at John Lodge Freeway and Abbott Street, features 2,778 gaming machines, 80 gaming tables, and three restaurants.
Among the gaming machines are Wheel of Fortune, video poker, video keno, Jeopardy, and I Dream of Jeannie. Gaming tables include three-card poker, baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker, craps, Let It Ride, mini-baccarat, pai gow poker, and roulette.
The MGM restaurants include Java Coast Coffee shop, the MGM Grand Buffet, and the Lion s Roar Grille.
MotorCity, 2901 Grand River Ave., features 2,621 gaming machines, 88 gaming tables, and four restaurants.
Among the gaming tables are three-card poker, baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker, craps, Let It Ride, mini-baccarat, pai gow poker, roulette, and Spanish 21. The casino also offers keno.
MotorCity s restaurants include Classics Buffet, Grand River Deli, Iridescence, and Motor City Pit Stop.
MGM s owner, MGM Mirage, is merging with Mandalay Resorts, the majority owner of MotorCity.
State law prohibits one firm from owning more than 10 percent of more than one Detroit casino. As a result Marian Ilitch, wife of Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, and Little Ceasar s Pizza owner Mike Ilitch, has recently been announced as the new majority owner of MotorCity Casino.
Meanwhile, Casino Windsor, at 377 Riverside Drive East, the oldest of the four casinos, has been boosting its services to compete with the Detroit casinos.
In February, the casino opened a poker room called Poker Place.
Open 24 hours a day, the room offers 10 tables featuring Texas hold em, Omaha, and seven-card stud games of varying limits.
Windsor has almost 1,000 more gaming machines than any of the Detroit casinos, featuring everything from mega-links to video poker to keno.
Gaming tables include blackjack, mini-baccarat, baccarat, Caribbean stud poker, Let It Ride, craps, four-card poker, three-card poker, and Spanish 21.
The casino, which includes a hotel, features four restaurants Garden Buffet, Riverside Grille, Terrace Cafe, and Cache along with a food court. It also offers first-rate entertainment at its Chrysler Theater, casino officials said.
Contact George Tanber at:gtanber@theblade.comor 734-241-3610.
First Published May 18, 2005, 1:01 p.m.
