We left New Orleans about 6:30 am and got through the city before most of the traffic. All went well until we got 24 miles from Baton Rouge on I-10. The traffic increased and finally came to a stop due to many miles of highway construction on I-10. The stop and go traffic slowed down our progress about 45 minutes on our way to Bossier City and our final checkpoint for this trip.
There are five riverboats in the area, three on the Bossier City side and two on the Shreveport side of the Red River. By state statue the riverboats can’t be larger than 30,000 sq. ft. which can be a little crowded and without adequate air handlers, rather smoky. About twelve miles east of the Horseshoe is a horse of another color; Louisiana Downs Racetrack. The track has a casino managed by Harrah’s and due to state laws can only have slot machines, not table games or video poker machines. It is quite nice with 150,000 sq. ft. of gambling space. They also have live racing events and simulcast wagering from other tracks.
We arrived about noon at the parking garage. The facilities at the Horseshoe are beautiful. They house the hotel, restaurants, Diamond Lounge, CMT Crossroads country bar and various shops. There is a large concert venue where big name entertainers perform called Riverdome. There are meeting rooms and services on the second floor of the hotel. All gambling takes place on a three story riverboat.
As with former Binion’s Horseshoe properties I’ve been to, they have one million dollars on display. This one is a wall of hundred dollar bills that line the walkway from the hotel building down to the riverboat.
Total Rewards is on the second level (the entry level just before getting on the riverboat). We opted in with the boothling (they had automatic machines but they were out of order) she seemed to have some trouble with the process so we were a little concerned with our status for the checkpoint.
Our plans for grabbing our points were to play on a couple of one hundred play Jacks or Better Video poker machines on the lower level. As we have so often found in the past, they are the most popular machines in the casino. Early mornings are the only time we have been able to get a seat on them. Monday at noon wasn’t one of those times. We split up and I went to the closed video poker bar to play a 9/5 JOB while my wife went to the slots to cut in half the amount of cash needed to accomplish the same points. I finished the required tier points $5 up for the session. It wasn’t as quick on the penny slots so we went to the 9/6 Double Double Bonus at the dollar level. My wife quickly covered her losses and more as I went down about $30 for the session. We are still ahead for all our Great Race and I’m pretty amazed.
We decided to retry the Buffet for lunch. The last time we visited, the buffet had really gone down in quality. Prior to that visit it was always one of our favorites with great seafood and many options. I’m happy to report that on this Monday the lunch buffet was once again great. We had about a five and a half hour drive left to go so we restrained from totally pigging out like we wanted to. Heading north on Highway 71 took us toward the house and finished up this leg of our Great Race for Rewards.
In seven days we head to Harrah’s Atlantic City.