State approves new Joliet location for Hollywood Casino

The Illinois Gaming Board this week approved plans to move the Hollywood Casino, giving a regulatory green light to the relocation of the casino to Rock Run Crossings.

The gaming board issued a statement after its approval Thursday for the relocation of the Hollywood Casinos in both Joliet and Aurora.

The approvals mark “a significant step in the regulatory process to bring new gaming venues to these host communities,” Illinois Gaming Board Administrator Marcus D. Fruchter said in a written statement. “The IGB will work with Penn Entertainment as it moves through the regulatory process to ensure these relocated casino venues are constructed, opened and operated in an efficient, ethical and compliant manner.”

Penn Entertainment in October announced plan to relocate the Hollywood Casino properties in Joliet and Aurora.

The Joliet casino, now located along the Des Plaines River at a spot accessed from Route 6, will be moved to Rock Run Crossings, a development now under construction at the crossings of Interstates 55 and 80.

Penn Entertainment is moving the two casinos away from traditional riverside spots to highway locations. Hollywood Casino Aurora will be moved to a spot along Interstate 88.

The gaming board approval marks another step away from the original legalization of casino gambling in Illinois, when it was allowed in 1990 but only on riverboats required to actually travel on rivers. The state has since moved away from the floating-boat requirement and now no longer requires that the casinos be located on a river.

“We are grateful for the approval of the Illinois Gaming Board and look forward to developing the new Hollywood Casino Joliet,” Penn Entertainment spokesman Jeff Morris said Friday.

The company plans to begin construction on the new Hollywood Casino later this year but has not provided a specific start date or when it plans to open.

City officials have said the availability of the Rock Run Crossings site made it possible to keep Hollywood Casino in Joliet at a time Penn Entertainment was considering other locations.

Rock Run Crossings is a new mixed-use development designed to attract entertainment venues, retailers, restaurants and other users to the site located in the northeast corner of the crossing of Interstates 55 and 80.

Developer Cullinan Properties is in the process of developing a 570-unit apartment project on the site that was approved by the city in 2022. Cullinan previously announced that Regal Cinemas will build a movie theater on the site, but no construction date has been set for the theater.