Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel online gambling partnerships

In February 2020, Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel owner and operator, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, signed a long-term partnership making William Hill its exclusive provider of online sports betting and online casino gaming throughout Michigan, pending regulatory approval.

In addition to launching online casino and online sports betting products, the partnership opened the Onyx Sports Book by William Hill at Turtle Creek in September 2020. Plus, a satellite location opened at the tribe’s nearby Leelanau Sands with sports betting kiosks.

William Hill launched online casino gaming and online sports betting in January 2021.

William Hill’s US division was later purchased by Caesars, which rebranded all William Hill products under that name in August 2021.

The casino at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel

The 55,510-square-foot casino at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel is open 24 hours.

It features close to 1,200 slots and video poker games and 25 table games.

That means a decent selection of slots and the most popular and latest in table games.

The casino at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel runs a variety of promotions, including:

• Casino birthday promotions
• Car giveaways
• Prize drawings
• Bonus Time Bonanza: Win up to $1,000 in E-Credits
• Top Tiers: Win a share of over $25,000 in cash and E-Credits
• Saturday Super 7s: Win a share of over $60,000 in cash and prizes
• The End of the Rainbow Prize Patrol: Win a share of $14,000 in cash & prizes
• First Responder Appreciation Day
• Veterans Appreciation Day
• Super Seniors Day

Slots

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel features more than 1,100 of the latest and most popular slots.

There’s everything from play penny slots to $100 denomination slots among the classic reels, modern video slots, video keno, and video poker games.

Top slots at Turtle Creek include:

• Lightning Zap Slot Machines
• Dancing Drums
• Cleopatra Slots
• China Shores Slot Machine
• 88 Fortunes Slot Machine
• Wheel of Fortune Double Diamond Slot Machine
• Kronos: Father of Zeus
• Crazy Money Deluxe
• Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania
• Fort Knox
• Zeus Son of Kronos
• Buffalo Slots
• Colossal Diamonds
• Super Sky Wheel

Turtle Creek Casino is also home to a Lightning Link Room dedicated exclusively to Lightning Link slot machines.

Lightning Link slots feature linked progressive jackpots. The games include Happy Lantern, Magic Pearl, Sahara Gold, and High Stakes. Each has its own unique theme with shared features including a linked progressive jackpot.

Table games

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel has 25 table games with everything from casino classics to the latest casino table game trends.

Table games at Turtle Creek include:

• Blackjack
• Craps
• Crazy 4 Poker
• Let It Ride
• Mississippi Stud
• Roulette
• Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em

There’s even two electronic casino games at Turtle Creek including video keno and video poker.

Turtle Creek Casino Rewards Card

The Turtle Creek Casino Rewards Card offers rewards for play and discounts on the property.

Membership is free and the card is good at Turtle Creek and Leelanau Sands Casino & Lodge.

You can use your card for discounts on accommodations and restaurants at both casino properties. Plus, cards can be used to earn comps redeemable for food and accommodations.

Turtle Creek Casino offers five levels of membership:

• Sapphire: Includes birthday promotions and complimentary valet
• Ruby: Sapphire benefits plus discounts on gas, hotel rooms, restaurants, retail, golf, spa, concerts. Includes 2x promotion bonus entries.
• Emerald: Ruby benefits plus 48-Hour pre-sale on concert tickets, priority service lanes, invitation-only events. Includes 3x promotion bonus entries.
• Pinnacle: Emerald benefits plus personal host, complimentary hotel room upgrades and late checkouts, 30-minute slot machine holds. Includes 5x promotion bonus entries.
• Onyx: Pinnacle benefits plus complimentary VIP experiences and 7x promotion bonus entries.

The card can also be used at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa for golf, spa services, and shopping.

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel sportsbook

Traverse City’s best sports bar went from a great place to watch a game to a great place to bet on one too in September 2020.

Onyx Sports Book opened at Turtle Creek, along with a satellite location at Leelanau Sands with sports betting kiosks.

Turtle Creek partnered with William Hill to provide retail sports betting  to the Grand Traverse region.

The sportsbook is located in the former Onyx Sports Bar at Turtle Creek. Both opened to catch most of the 2020 football season.

Onyx Sports Book has 13 flat-screen TVs for game watching, complimentary Golden Tee golf, billiards, darts, and shuffleboard for game playing. It has a sports bar feel, perfect for the modern sportsbook, according to sportsbook manager Jonathan Idec.

Plus, there’s a full-service bar and a full menu with food and beverage specials during Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Lions games. Idec said the bar will be offering more specials and promotions tied around big sporting events.

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel poker room

The poker room at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel ceased operations on March 31, 2019.

Casino officials claim it was closed due to overhead and spacing issues.

The poker room opened with the casino in 2008 and was once one of the largest in Michigan. The original room was converted into a high-limit slot area a few years later. The poker room moved to a space with only six tables and slot machines installed in the other half of the room.

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel amenities

The Turtle Creek Hotel

Turtle Creek is home to a hotel with 127 guest rooms and 10 suites, 4,500 square feet of meeting space, a gift shop, and a fitness center.

Hotel room amenities include:

• 37” flat screen HDTVs with 60 HD channels, including HBO
• Pay-Per-View movie service
• In-room coffee makers
• Hair dryers
• Make-up mirrors
• Iron/ironing board

Further hotel amenities include:

• Complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi
• Complimentary breakfast at Seasons
• Four restaurants and three lounges
• Access to the casino
• 24-hour workout room
• Gift shop
• 4,500 sq. ft. of meeting space
• Complimentary valet parking
• Turtle Creek Market and Mobile gas station

Dining and entertainment

The Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel features four restaurants and three bars and lounges.

Restaurants and bars on the property include:

• Bourbons 72: Turtle Creek’s premier steakhouse and bourbon bar featuring signature prime cut steaks, fresh seafood, and more than 72 different bourbons behind the bar.
• Seasons: Buffet style dining in a newly renovated casual restaurant atmosphere.
• Coffee Spoon: The place to go for coffee drinks, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches.
• The Deli: Quick bites in a retro diner atmosphere with burgers, shakes and a gamblers breakfast.
• Onyx: Sports bar about to launch a William Hill Sportsbook.
• Mid-Level Bar: Comfortable lounge couches, bar seating and tables overlooking the casino.
• Tower Bars: Modern and sophisticated atmosphere with multiple flat screens, surround sound music and a spectacular floor-to-ceiling waterfall with lights.

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel history

According to the local Grand Rapids Press Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel made quite a splash when it opened in 2008.

The newspaper described colorful beams of light shooting off in sharp angles along the airy ceiling and shades of hot pink, tangerine, turquoise, cerulean, lime green and more in the opening of its story about the new Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel near Traverse City.

It also described a skylight in the center of it all, a 30-foot-tall wall of falling water, and mood lighting in a place where the slot machines seemed “almost optional.”

Clearly, the writer was impressed with the 360,000-square-foot, $116 million casino and hotel complex that replaced a decade old Tribal Casino that was never described with such glowing details. The existing casino was eventually demolished and replaced with a parking deck.

Turtle Creek’s grand opening featured a drumming and blessing ceremony on June 24, 2008 and a few words from Turtle Creek’s marketing department claiming it offered a culinary experience, nighttime experience, and hotel experience as much as a gaming experience.

Of course, gaming was a part of it all. The casino launched with 1,300 slots and video poker machines and 42 table games featuring high-tech displays with stacks of plasma TVs

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel was designed with a Northwoods influence and has maintained its contemporary feel through 12 years in operation.

Owner and operator, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, built this starting with a bingo palace it launched in nearby Peshawbestown back in 1984.

The tribe now owns and operates Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos which encompasses three gaming, entertainment, dining, and hotel properties in Northern Michigan.

There’s Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, which now offers more than 1,100 slots, 25 table games, a hotel, four restaurants and three bars. On the West shore of Grand Traverse Bay, there’s also the Leelanau Sands Casino with a bingo hall, 330 slots, and a selection of table games. Finally, there’s the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa showcasing 900 acres of year-round entertainment, recreation, relaxation, and activities for all.

Turtle Creek opened Onyx Sports Book in September 2020. The tribe and William Hill launched online casino gaming and online sports betting under the Turtle Creek banner in early 2021.

The William Hill brand was changed to Caesars Sportsbook and Casino in August 2021.