Ho-Chunk hotel and Casino, Wisconsin Dells, WI.
This is a detailed report on one casino in Wisconsin, I'm sure that
it will be of no interest to most in the group, so I apologize in
advance for the length. Even those that will never visit our fair
state or this casino may be interested in the machines and how they
are configured, as they are brand new IGT machines and similar set-
ups may be found in other casinos in the future.
Background
Ho-Chunk is a Native American casino 50 miles north of Madison, WI.
It is approximately a 2 hour drive from Milwaukee, and about 4 hours
from either Minneapolis, MN or Chicago, IL. It is 4 miles off an
Interstate Highway just south of Wisconsin Dells. Wisconsin Dells is
a major tourist attraction in the Midwest with several large
waterparks and scenic attractions.
Ho-Chunk has undergone some major inventory changes in recent weeks.
They seem to be about finished with the changeover, so I thought I
would give a full inventory report. They have replaced almost all of
their over 2,000 machines in the 90,000 square foot casino with new
IGT machines that all have TI/TO technology. All of the machines
listed in this inventory are TI/TO machines with the exception of the
two progressive banks and the jumbo progressives which are holdovers
from the old inventory. The opportunity presented itself Saturday
morning (8-28-2004) as we stayed there on Friday night because of an
off-point comped free stay with tailgate party for the Packers pre-
season game. The NSUDs were particularly brutal Friday night so I had
more time than money on Saturday morning and spent the time
researching this report.
The Hotel
The hotel is just over 300 rooms, it is attached to the casino but it
is only 4 stories and some of the rooms are a bit of a hike from the
casino proper. The standard rooms are about 20x14 not including the
entryway and bathroom area. Ours was furnished with 2 queen beds, a
sitting table with 2 chairs, a small writing desk with chair and an
armoire housing a 26" TV. In the entryway is an alcove with a small
refrigerator, a microwave, a coffee maker and a small kitchen type
sink. There is also an in-room safe. The bathroom has a tile floor
and a tub/shower combo with a six foot high shower head. The water
pressure is very good and the water temperature is easy to control.
Can you tell plumbing is important to me? There is also a balcony
accessed by a sliding glass door with a patio table and chairs. Matt
and Stinky will find small bottles containing shampoo, mouthwash, and
a coconut and aloe lotion. They will also find a bar of Bergamot and
Lemon bath soap, a Vitamin E facial bar, and a shower cap.
There is a buffet, which I really can't recommend, think low-range
Las Vegas with higher prices. A coffee shop that is pretty good and a
steak house that is very good, but a bit pricey. A snack shop in the
casino proper is also available with bar type food. There is a child-
care facility, a sports bar and a gift shop. There is no pool.
The Casino
The Casino is a large L shaped facility, a major expansion was added
several years ago and the locals refer to the two wings as the "old
part" and the "new part". The new part is the north wing and has much
higher ceilings than most of the old part, which is the south wing of
the building.
Slots are the bulk of the gaming, but there are some VP machines
scattered throughout the casino. Blackjack and bingo are currently
the only other games offered. From October of last year till June
30th of this year "Las Vegas style" casino games were offered. The
poker room, craps, roulette, Caribbean Stud, Three card Poker, ect,
ect
were all shut down due to a dispute over the new compacts that
were negotiated with the State of Wisconsin. It is not known when or
if these games will be re-installed at some point in the future.
VP Inventory
Bank A
Entering the north wing of the casino from the hotel entrance on the
northwest corner and proceeding south the first bank of machines
containing VP is just across from a small ATM/Change booth. It is a
bank of ten Game King uprights with red faceplates, two rows of five
machines back to back. They are multi-multi machines with six menu
options only one of which is VP. The other menu choices are Keno/Slot
games. The denominations available are 1 cent and 5 cents and you can
bet 1-100 coins. The game is 7/5 JB with a sequential royal bonus
that pays 50,000 coins on a five coin bet. The RF and sequential
bonus are full pay at the 5th coin and proportionally full pay on
bets of 6-100 coins. The paytable is the same at both denominations a
theme that is repeated throughout the inventory.
Bank B
A few rows south of bank A is a bank of 5 Multistrike machines
located next to a bank of progressive slant-tops (bank C). The
Multistrikes have six games and the only denomination available
is .25 cents. The games are 9/5 JB, 7/5 Bonus, DW (Illinois deuces,
25-15-9-4-4-3-2-1), JW KOB 17/7, DB 9/6/5, and DDB 9-5-4-3-1-1. The
other Multistrikes mentioned later in this report have the same
denominations, menus and paytables.
Bank C
Next to the Multistrikes is a BP progressive bank of 16 slant-tops,
two rows of 8 machines back to back. There are 5 progressive meters,
one for the RF, SF, Quad Aces, Quad 2-3-4, and Quad 5-K. These are
quarter machines and an 8 coin bet is required to trigger the
progressive. The base game is BP with a 6-5-4-3-2-1 paytable. Despite
the poor paytable these machines receive a lot of play and I have
never seen the meter reach anywhere near a level that would make it a
positive play.
Bank D
Just south of the progressive bank there is a bank of 8 machines,
four machines back to back. On one side are 3 machines with Keno
faceplates and one with a red Game King faceplate. The other side of
the bank contains two of each. The machines with the Keno faceplate
have the same games and denominations as Bank A. The three Game King
face-plated machines are multi-multi and have a menu of 6 VP games.
The denominations are 1 cent and 5 cent and 1-100 coins per hand can
be wagered. The six VP games are 7/5 Bonus, NSUDs, 9/7 DB, 9/5 JB,
9/6 DDB and 9/6 Double Aces and Faces. On these machines you can
effectively play the NSUDs paytable at 5cents per hand all the way up
to 5 dollars per hand.
Bank E
This bank of 5 machines also in the North wing (new part) of the
casino. They are located along a wall in a corner to the south of the
main bar. They are identical to the red face plated Game Kings noted
in Bank D.
Bank F
There are two more Multistrikes identical to the ones in bank C
against the wall on a corner just south of the main bar.
Bank G
Not far from bank E at the far east end of the north wing is a bank
of 8 10play machines in back to back rows of 4 machines. The
denominations available are 1 cent and 5 cents and 1-5 coins per line
can be wagered. They contain six games; all but the first of which
have a sequential royal bonus of 50,000 coins on a 5 coin bet. The
six games are 7/5 Bonus, BP Deluxe 8-5-4-3-1-1, DW (Illinois deuces),
Super DB 7-5-4-3-1-1, Triple DB 9-6-4-2-1-1, and Super Aces Bonus 6-5-
4-3-1-1.
Bank H
This bank is located near the hot dog stand directly in from the main
casino entrance east of the Guest Services counter. There are 10
machines in this bank, five machines back to back with the same menu
and denomination choices as bank A.
Bank I
Proceeding into the south wing (old part) past several rows of slots
there is a bank of 5 machines between the blackjack tables and a
change booth. They are identical to the machines in bank D.
Bank J
A little south of bank I along the wall is a long row of 30 upright
machines all linked two a 5 way progressive. The paytable and 8 coin
quarter bet are identical to the machines in bank C.
Bank K
There are 3 Jumbo progressive VP machines in a bank near the
blackjack tables. They are in a row of machines that are back to back
with other jumbo machines that are all slots. Given the size of these
machines they are hard to miss. All of these machines are dollar
machines with a 5 coin bet required for the progressive. One of these
is a single game machine with 7-5-4-3-2-1 Bonus. The other two are
multi-games with five games each of which have their own RF
progressive meter. The games on these two are all short pay versions
of JB, DW, BP, DB and BP deluxe. While the reset on all of these is
negative I have noted times when the progressive reach a positive or
very positive amount. It is not unusual for there to be several
meters above 8K and occasionally you will see one or two over 10K.
Not having the bankroll required for such plays I don't monitor them
closely, but at times these may be the best plays available for those
more well healed than I.
Bank L
Further into the south wing near the entrance to the bingo hall are
two rows back to back. One side contains 3 Multistrikes identical to
the ones in bank B and 8 3P/5P machines. The other side contains 10
of the 3P/5P machines. These machines are multi-multi with 1 cent, 5
cent, 25 cent and $1 denominations. Six games are available for 3play
and the same six are available for 5 play. The games are all
identical to the games listed on the 10play machines in bank G.
Bank M
Further south in the old part, past the bingo hall entrance are 20
machines in 2 rows of back to back machines with 5 machines on each
side. These machines also have the same set up as the VP machines in
bank D with the exception being that the denomination choices have
been changed on these to include 1 cent, 5 cent, 25 cent, $1 and $5.
Again the paytables do not change as you switch between
denominations. You can play NSUDs from a nickel a hand up to $500 per
hand as betting the 100 coin max on the $5 setting is equivalent to
playing a $100 machine.
A couple of notes on these machines, they are in rows that are way
too close together, unless you have a machine on the outside row you
will be jostled by those attempting to walk between the rows. Who
ever designed the layout of this casino must have been dropped on
their head when they were a child. Other parts of the casino are
quite roomy and there are even areas of wasted space. The other note
on these machines is that when I played them on Friday night most of
them were being played on the 1cent setting. You will have to be able
to tolerate someone sitting next to you who will want to bet 10 cents
per hand and will hit the bet one button 10 times between each hand
rather than just hitting the deal button each time.
Bank N
This is not really a bank it is a single machine against the wall not
far from banks L and M. It is a 10play machine identical to the ones
described in bank G.
Bank M
This is a carousel near the far south entrance (the bus doors). There
are 12 machines in the carousel, three slots, two 3/P 5/P machines
identical to the ones in bank L and seven identical to the ones in
bank D.
The slot club
The Rewards Club is a cash or comps system. Each $10 wagered earns
one point. Each 50 points earned can be redeemed for $1 in cash back.
Effectively this is .20% cash back. There are no significant
discounts when using your points for comps. During the slow times of
year there have been occasional double points days, I don't know if
these will continue this winter but if they do, they will make for a
positive play situation on the NSUDs.
Other games.
The blackjack at Ho-Chunk has fairly good rules. They offer a double
deck pitch game on a few tables, but most of the tables are six deck
shoes. The rules are the same for all tables. The limits start at $5
and range up to $25. Dealer hits soft 17, you can double on any two
cards. You can re-split up to four hands and double after splits. The
penetration on the double deck game is usually about 60%, but varies
by dealer and I have seen up to about 75%.
The poker room is rumored to be re-opening soon, as I think the
gambling class rating of live poker is different than craps and the
other games that were removed at the end of June. I spent many hours
there while it was in operation. The games are fairly tight on week
nights but on the weekends a couple of fish dishes are usually served
at each table.