Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1992)

ing and entertainment aspects of their vessels, the focus of the Em- press is clearly on gambling. A total of 6 three-hour cruises are offered daily from 9 a.m. until mid- night. There is not even a full service restaurant onboard, and both the first and second decks are devoted entirely to gaming. Those two floors have very few windows, so only the open-air top deck is used for sightseeing.

In fact, it was the job of St.

Louis-based interior design firm

Directions in Design to create for the boat's owners the feel of a Las

Vegas casino, not a riverboat. The firm's signature can be seen in the boat' custom-designed carpeting, crackled glass chandeliers, and the design and detailing of basically every element of the boat's inte- rior, including the gaming ma- chines and tables, counters, bars and restrooms. Because there are very few windows, Directions in Design made use of a mixed metal theme in the interior design, utilizing bronze, gold and silver to create light refrac- tions and glitter. "We used a variety of interesting textures, reflective surfaces, jewel- tone fabrics and an unusual combina- tion of precious metal colorations to give the casino a contemporary, slightly Egyptian look and feel," said

Jane Ganz, president of the 17-year- old firm.

The Empress is a $27 million, 222- foot, 1,000-passenger gaming vessel on the Des Plaines River near Joliet, 111. The casino offers gaming with no state-regulated betting limits and has 28 blackjack tables, five craps tables, mini baccarat, three roulette wheels, a big six wheel, two video poker bars

St. Louis-based Directions- in-Design gave the Vessel a "Las Vegas" atmosphere. and 607 slot machines.

The Empress is powered by two

Caterpillar 3412TAmarine engines, rated at 671 hp each, which turn ZF

BW251 reduction gears with a 4.13:1 ratio. Caterpillar also supplied two 3508 model, 715-kw generator sets to provide shipboard electrical ser- vice; a 3304 NA, 113-kw generator set to provide emergency power; and a 3208 TA engine to power the

Schottel SST170 48-inch bow thruster, which is rated at 400 hp.

Electronic equipment includes a

Furuno 1730 radar and a

Datamarine Dart-4 2490 depth sounder. The VHF radios are a Si-

Tex 880 and an Icom M120.

The Empress River Casino Cor- poration received preliminary license approval in July 1991 and its operat- ing license last month. The corpora- tion is comprised of businessmen from Will and DuPage Counties in

Illinois, and is run by Nevada casino professionals who also own and man- age Fitzgerald's casino hotels in Las

Vegas and Reno.

For free literature detailing the boatbuilding capabilities of Atlantic

Marine,

Boats & Barges

The Empress Riverboat, built by Atlantic Marine.

The Empress:

Looks Like A Megayacht,

Feels Like A Las Vegas Casino

When the Empress River Casino recently opened outside of Chicago, her design—both inside and out— turned heads. Unlike many of their counterparts in the growing world of riverboat casinos who have built or refurbished turn-of-the-century paddlewheelers, the Empress's own- ers opted for a contemporary yacht look.

The 66-foot-wide vessel was de- signed by Rodney E. Lay & Associ- ates of Jacksonville, Fla., and built by Atlantic Marine Corporation, also of Jacksonville. The pair teamed up to give a "megayacht" look to the vessel's exterior, including a bow that makes the boat look like a cata- maran, although she is a monohull configuration.

But more than that, the Empress was designed to keep people at the gaming tables and slot machines.

While some casino boat operators have tried to—or are required to— strike a balance between the gam-

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Maritime Reporter/Engineering News

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