{"id":2474465,"date":"2026-06-25T00:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2474465"},"modified":"2026-06-25T00:12:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:12:52","slug":"an-entirely-new-experience-hollywood-casino-aurora-opens-360-million-entertainment-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/an-entirely-new-experience-hollywood-casino-aurora-opens-360-million-entertainment-complex\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An entirely new experience\u2019: Hollywood Casino Aurora opens $360 million entertainment complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n The new Aurora Hollywood Casino held its grand opening on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Aurora.
\n Brian Hill\/bhill@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

The Hollywood Casino Aurora<\/a> threw open the doors Wednesday to a new, bigger home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a new building. It is an entirely new experience for our guests,\u201d said Greg Moore, the casino\u2019s general manager, during an opening ceremony attended by local elected officials, casino executives, employees and loyal casino patrons.<\/p>\n

\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n Hollywood Casino Aurora unlocked the doors on Wednesday to a new, bigger home.
\n Rick West\/rwest@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

The crowd included Joe Stupec of Aurora, who has been gambling at the old casino in downtown Aurora for more than 30 years. He was accompanied by Aurora Mayor John Laesch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than I expected,\u201d Stupec said of the new casino at 2500 N. Farnsworth Ave. After the speeches, he headed to one of the tables. He said he likes to play craps because \u201cyou are doing something,\u201d as opposed to letting a machine decide your fate.<\/p>\n

\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n From left, PENN Entertainment President and CEO Jay Snowden, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and PENN Senior Vice President Rafael Verde enjoy a laugh after the ribbon cutting at Auroa Hollywood Casino Wednesday.
\n Rick West\/rwest@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n Celebrity chefs Stephanie Izard, left, and Giada De Laurentiis speak to folks on Wednesday before the grand opening event at Hollywood Casino Aurora.
\n Rick West\/rwest@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

The new casino features more ways for gamblers to try their luck.<\/p>\n

In addition, they can stay overnight in a 226-room hotel, be pampered in a spa, and dine at several restaurants, including two owned by celebrity chefs Stephanie Izard and Giada De Laurentiis. There\u2019s a 12,000-square-foot events center.<\/p>\n

And if someone wants to have a wedding at the hotel, Moore can help out. He has obtained his state officiant license.<\/p>\n

\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n The Boulevard Food and Drink Hall at Hollywood Casino Aurora features restaurants, including Lucky Goat by chef Stephanie Izard.
\n Rick West\/rwest@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

The casino has 50 table games and more than 1,000 slot and video poker machines.<\/p>\n

It has also added sports gambling. The Sportsbook has its own pub, where players can watch events on large TVs while wagering.<\/p>\n

The opening ceremony included a lion dance by a troupe from a Chinatown studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to give this place good luck. Get rid of all the evil spirits, so everyone has prosperity and luck,\u201d said troupe drummer Keith Pickering.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t the only Asian touch at the opening. The Red Lotus Asian Kitchen restaurant was dishing out samples, including pork potstickers and Vietnamese spring rolls.<\/p>\n

\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \u00a0<\/a><\/span>
\n Hollywood Casino Aurora held a grand opening on Wednesday at its new location at 2500 N. Farnsworth Ave.
\n Rick West\/rwest@dailyherald.com<\/i>\n <\/div>\n

The original Hollywood Casino Aurora opened on June 17, 1993, on two riverboats on the Fox River. State law required casinos to be on riverboats, and for those boats to move. Patrons could gamble during two-hour trips on a stretch of the river about a mile long.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Penn National Entertainment President and CEO Jay Snowden paid tribute to the original casino.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat little riverboat (casino) just kept chugging and chugging,\u201d Snowden said.<\/p>\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

\n The Hollywood Casino Aurora held its grand opening on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Aurora.
\n Courtesy of Hollywood Casino Aurora<\/i>\n <\/p>\n

In 1999, the state allowed casinos to be permanently moored, or on barges. Aurora moved onto a stationary barge in 2002.<\/p>\n

Aurora provided financial aid for the $360 million project through a tax increment financing district and a donation of land valued at roughly $8 million.<\/p>\n

The city borrowed $50 million by issuing general-obligation bonds to lend money to Penn. The debt is to be repaid from increased property taxes on the property.<\/p>\n

If property taxes don\u2019t cover the debt, the casino has to make up the difference, according to a redevelopment agreement.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.dailyherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The new Aurora Hollywood Casino held its grand opening on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Aurora. Brian Hill\/bhill@dailyherald.com The Hollywood Casino Aurora threw open the doors Wednesday to a new, bigger home. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just a new building. It is an entirely new experience for our guests,\u201d said Greg Moore, the casino\u2019s general manager, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2474466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[382283,49208,35206,21738],"class_list":["post-2474465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-aurora","tag-communities","tag-gambling","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/\u2018An-entirely-new-experience-Hollywood-Casino-Aurora-opens-360-million.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2474467,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474465\/revisions\/2474467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2474466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}