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Hit the jackpot with a trip to Northwest Indiana, where you'll find five casinos within an hour's drive.

Thursday Feb 28, 2008.     By Danielle Braff

Travel + Tourism Feed

Vegas is great, but when you factor in the four-hour flight and expensive hotels, a trip to the Strip starts to lose some of its charm. That's where Northwest Indiana comes in. Boasting five casinos within an hour of Chicago (or six if you include the brand-spanking-new Four Winds Casino just over the border in Michigan), this gritty area of Indiana can provide a rockin' good time if you play your cards right.

On a recent trip, I arrived at my first casino, Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, just a half hour after leaving my South Loop pad. Bright lights, a dizzying array of slot machines and smoke—lots and lots of second hand smoke—greeted me as I walked into the Harrah's-owned casino. Horseshoe is by far the most popular Northwest Indiana casino, raking in $38 million in January 2008 alone. It's similar to a Vegas casino because it's loud, obnoxious and busy. And if you're into slots, this is the place to be; it has 2,000 machines. The casino is in the midst of a major renovation (though it's still open throughout the construction) to make it an even bigger gaming destination.

I immediately lost an embarrassingly large amount of money at Horseshoe playing at the $10 (the minimum) blackjack tables, so I made my exit and headed 10 minutes away to Resorts East Chicago. I planned to go directly to the blackjack tables, but the savory smell of the buffet (supposedly ranked the best in all of Northwest Indiana) greeted me; I dined on an extravagant array of sweets and savories, like freshly cut roast beef, macaroni and cheese and lots of ice cream with even more toppings ($11.99 for lunch). Score an even better deal by stopping by Resorts' Friday and Saturday night seafood buffet for $24.99, which includes all-you-can-eat crab legs. Yum.

Resorts' actual casino area, with its low ceilings, abundance of tables and a host of scary-looking people (like the drunk talking to himself), felt a little too crowded and claustrophobic for me, so I drove another six minutes and arrived at Majestic Star I & II in Gary, Indiana.

A Trump casino used to reside here, but Majestic took over and what now remains are two nearly identical casinos connected by a hallway. Sound Vegas-enough for you? I loved being able to run from one casino to another whenever the tables were taking too much of my hard-earned cash. Both were pretty full, but I only had to wait about five minutes when I wanted to change tables. The 2,400 slot machines and the 58 table games were enough to keep me occupied (and take my $120), but I had more casinos on my list and moved on.

Another 20-minute drive landed me at Blue Chip Hotel & Casino, where I found hoards of older people. And by older people, I mean wheelchair-bound, dialysis-machine-connected people. But the casino itself is huge and spacious, so that was a bonus. Unlike the previous gaming centers I visited, Blue Chip is just one floor, so it seems more expansive than it actually is. But despite that it was crowded with people gambling away their social security checks, there were still plenty of unoccupied tables. Another plus: It's located only a 30-second drive away from the Michigan City outlet mall, where you'll score great finds and only pay 6-percent sales tax. Take that, Mayor Daley!

Michigan City is just a few minutes away from the Michigan state border, where you'll find Four Winds Resort & Casino. I know that it's not technically in Northwest Indiana, but if you've gone this far, you might as well experience the awesomeness that is Four Winds: The 120,000-square-foot casino just opened last year, and holds 3,000 slot machines and thousands of people. With marble floors, a shopping center, a child-care facility and a stunning hotel on site, it may convince you to never again make the trek to Sin City.