New Aurora casino plans to open in June
The new Hollywood Casino Aurora plans to open June 24, the owners announced Thursday.
The $360 million casino, which replaces the one in downtown Aurora, is on Farnsworth Avenue north of I-88, near the Chicago Premium Outlets Mall.
“It’s great to see that the new casino is set to open right on time,” Mayor John Laesch said Thursday.
The new casino still needs regulatory approvals from the state gaming board. It has a 226-room hotel, a sports betting operation, more than 1,200 table and machine gambling positions, a spa and an event center.
In addition, there will be restaurants by celebrity chefs Stephanie Izard and Giada De Laurentiis.
Penn Entertainment Inc. said it will have about 700 workers. According to the company, that’s twice what it has now at the downtown casino.
It is Penn’s second new casino in the Chicago area. It opened a replacement Hollywood Casino Joliet last August.
Penn broke ground on the casino in November 2024.
The city of Aurora is providing financial aid for the project, through a tax-increment financing district and the donation of $8 million worth of land.
The city borrowed $50 million by issuing general-obligation bonds to lend money to the developer. The debt is to be repaid from increased property taxes from the property.
If property taxes don’t cover the debt, the developer has to make up the difference, according to a redevelopment agreement.
The deal, brokered by former mayor Richard Irvin, was protested by some Aurora residents, including Laesch, who was then an alderman. Laesch voted against the redevelopment agreement.
Laesch beat Irvin in the 2025 election.
Opponents argued that Penn, which reported a gross profit of $2.35 billion in 2025 according to a NASDAQ report, could afford to build the casino without taxpayers’ aid.
The current Hollywood Casino opened in 1993 on two riverboats on the Fox River. Initially, gamblers could take two-hour cruises.
The boats were removed in 2004, and the casino was put on a stationary barge in 2010. The redevelopment agreement calls for Penn to demolish the current casino and give the site to the city.
The city also bought the casino’s downtown parking garage.
In 2019, the state changed its casino law, no longer requiring casinos to operate over or near a waterway.
Irvin lobbied for the change in the law. Revenue at the river casino had dropped significantly, as more casinos opened.
According to the 2024 annual report of the Illinois Gaming Board, Hollywood Casino Aurora had gross receipts of $99 million. The newer and bigger Rivers Casino in Des Plaines tops the list for the state, with $516 million. The Grand Victoria in Elgin, which started in 1994, had $138 million in gross receipts, according to the report.