Horseshoe Lake Charles Casino and Hotel opens, Mattress Mack makes first bet
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
Westlake, LA (KPLC) - All bets are on as the newest casino opens its door in Southwest Louisiana, Horseshoe Lake Charles.
Kicking off betting in the new building was Mattress Mack placing the first bet at Caesar’s Sportsbook.
He bet one million dollars on the Houston Cougars (+800) to win the men’s basketball NCAA Championship.
Thousands ready to test their luck made their way to the grand opening of the new Horseshoe casino, attending a ribbon cutting before the doors officially opened at noon.
“We’ve been waiting for the opening here and we finally got here and there was a long line but I waited in the car,” Regena Lewis from Houston, TX said.
For some like Linda Mainord who also made the drive from Texas, that wait was worth it.
“I hit right off the bat. I had $20 and $105 so, that will work,” Mainord who’s from Baytown, TX said.
“I was being nosey looking at his machine and I hit $900 and I’m like okay, I don’t even know what’s going on,” former Westlake resident Gerald Soileau said.
Soileau told 7News he once worked at the former Isle of Capri riverboat, nearly 25 years ago, but now he came back to see what it’s become.
“It’s going to do a lot for Westlake because I think everybody was waiting for Westlake casino to come back and guess what it’s back and it’s beautiful,” Soileau said.
The casino, previously the Isle of Capri has been closed since 2020 because of the pandemic and then the hurricanes.
“To live and see your place of work literally sail away and to have to go through COVID and four mother nature storms and not know what’s going to happen and for us to be able to offer the jobs back. As I leave this building tonight, that is what I’ll reflect on the most,” Caesar’s regional president Dan Real said.
Real said more than half the employees from Isle of Capri came back to work at the Horseshoe.
The new gaming floor includes the Caesar’s Sportsbook, over 860 slots, 42 tables and ten poker tables. In addition to the casino, the hotel has 253 rooms along with three dining options already open.
You can officially book a room or place a bet, but you might have to wait a couple more months before you can eat at some of the new restaurants, like Gordon Ramsey’s steakhouse.
Gordon Ramsay Steak is set to open mid-2023.
To continue its grand opening celebration, Horseshoe Lake Charles will have a fireworks show over the lake at 9 p.m.
Those fireworks will be set off from a barge in the water.
