Empress Casino chips: Joliet, Hammond and the secondary $5

When a collector asks for the "Empress Joliet secondary $5", they mean a specific chip from a real riverboat casino that closed years ago. The chip is easy to mix up with the collector-made Empress Star set, and the secondary and primary versions look different enough that it matters which one you are buying. This article covers the venue's history first, then what is known about its chips.

In this guide

The Empress Casino in Joliet

The casino opened on 16 June 1992 at 2300 Empress Drive in Joliet, Illinois. It was built by investors led by construction company owner T. J. Lambrecht and was one of the first riverboat casinos in Illinois. The complex used an Egyptian theme, with pyramids on top of the entertainment building and a large Sphinx.¹

Ownership changed several times:

On 20 March 2009, during renovation work, a welder's spark ignited grease in a kitchen and the entertainment area was badly damaged. The casino reopened 97 days later, on 25 June 2009, as Hollywood Casino Joliet with an art deco look in place of the Egyptian theme.¹ The house chips from the Empress era therefore date from 1992 to 2009 at the latest, and chip designs changed over time as owners changed.

Empress Casino Hammond

A sister casino, Empress Casino Hammond, opened in Hammond, Indiana in 1996 as a four-level gaming vessel. Horseshoe Gaming bought Empress Casinos in 1999 and rebranded the Hammond casino as Horseshoe Casino Hammond on 4 May 2001.² A collector who finds an Empress chip should check whether it came from the Joliet or the Hammond operation; the pages consulted for this article do not establish how the two operations' chip sets differ, so treat any claim about Hammond-specific designs as unverified until you can compare against a catalogue entry.

Primary and secondary sets

Posters on the Poker Chip Forum say the Joliet cash chips exist in a primary and a secondary design, with variations in colour, mould and weight. They report that the secondary $5 and $25 chips come in 9 gram and 11 gram versions, with different shades of red.³ That is an owner observation rather than a published specification, so weigh a chip on a gram scale and compare it with examples in photographs before relying on it.

Other points from the same discussion:

• Collectors said true fractional chips do not exist in the Joliet set; $2.50 "snappers" served the role that quarters would in other casinos.
• The $1 chip was described as very hard to find in quantity, and the $500 and $1,000 chips as very difficult to find at all.
• One collector said it took him three years to build the set out, and that used chips are easier to find than ones.
• Collectors said complete sets are unlikely to appear because owners fear they could not rebuy the chips.

A trader on the forum has also offered a barrel of Empress Star $20 chips in exchange for secondary Empress Joliet $5 chips.⁴ That trade request is a reminder that the two sets are valued differently and are not interchangeable.

Telling a genuine Empress chip from Empress Star

• The collector-made Empress Star chips were never used in a casino and are normally found in unplayed condition; they are described in the article on collector-made Paulson sets. An Empress chip with years of wear is more likely a Joliet house chip.
• Empress Star has denominations Joliet did not use, such as fractional chips and tournament values.
• Check the mould and inlay of your chip against a documented example in the Museum of Gaming History ChipGuide, which lists casino chips with issue date, colour, mould and inlay data.⁵
• Because original house chips can be mixed with stand-ins by sellers, ask for photos of both faces and the edge and weigh the chip.

Practical advice for completing a set

Decide whether you want primary only, secondary only or a mixed set before you buy, because mixed colours and weights will show on a table. Ask sellers directly about weight (9 g or 11 g for secondary fives and twenty-fives) and about whether the chip was used or stored. Check live listings and collector forum wanted threads for what is currently offered.

Matching an Empress Joliet secondary $5

Before adding another barrel to an existing set, photograph a known chip beside the offered ones under the same lighting. Look at the inlay wording, red body color, spot arrangement and rim mold. Different photographs can exaggerate shade differences, so ask the seller to put several examples from the lot in one unedited image.

The weight variations reported in the collector discussion are a reason to ask for measurements across a sample, rather than one carefully chosen chip.³ Record the readings with the denomination and claimed issue. A shared casino name does not guarantee identical thickness, condition or handling feel.

A precise wanted-list description

Use wording such as Empress Casino Joliet secondary $5, original inlays, matching the attached photo, quantity required. Include the condition you can accept and whether mixed weights or shades suit your set. Search Empress Joliet secondary 5 chips, Empress Casino Illinois Paulson chips and Empress Joliet cash set before broadening to the unqualified word 'Empress'.

Can Hammond chips fill a Joliet gap?

They can serve as a deliberate substitute in a home game, but they do not complete a venue-specific Joliet collection. The same applies to Empress Star chips. If you use stand-ins, keep them identified in the inventory so a later sale or trade does not present a mixed collection as one original casino issue.

Sources and further reading

1. Argosy Empress Casino, Wikipedia: opening, ownership and 2009 fire.
2. Horseshoe Hammond, Wikipedia: Hammond opening and 2001 rebrand.
3. Found Empress Cash Set, Poker Chip Forum: collector posts on primary and secondary sets.
4. ES $20 single barrel for Empress Joliet $5 secondary, Poker Chip Forum: trade request.
5. ChipGuide, Museum of Gaming History: example of the database's venue and chip entries.