This casino is only 50 minutes from home & could easily be my favorite if they would listen to paying customers. The problem is the unwillingness to correct payscales on video keno. 90% of their keno has worse payouts than the Michigan state run "Club Keno" which sucks. Example a 3 spot should pay 43-46 coins, club keno pays 27, Walletkeepers pays 11! Have complained endlessly to slot manager, his answer is if you don't like it go somewhere else. Some marketing strategy huh? I'm mainly a table player but the wife plays keno. So in order to satisfy both of us, we travel elsewhere. I agree with others, now that Gun Lake Casino is open, these people will lose business. Too bad, otherwise not a bad place to play although winning is tough to do here.
Didnt play the table games or eat there, even though I heard the food is good.
This was my first visit, the gentleman at the customer service counter was very friendly. I was there for about 4 hours, no one offered me a drink, but I found the self serve counter.
The atmosphere was pretty good, but the layout was a little confusing. There is no hotel. The valet's were very courteous and prompt, but I forgot to tip when I left, sorry.
I also recently visited the Soaring Eagle Casino for the first time in several years.
The biggest difference I noticed, in my opinion, was the number of slot machines that paid out a jackpot at the Soaring Eagle compared to Firekeepers. Honestly, I never heard a slot machine going off with a jackpot win at Firekeepers, at the Soaring Eagle, it was about every 1/2 hour. At the Soaring Eagle, a lady 6 machines down from me won $1500 after I had played my machine for 20 minutes. We sat down at about the same time. Approximately an hour later, I heard 3 machines going off, one of them was a person I was there with.
I did win about the same amount of money at both, $120.
I did notice that at Firekeepers, more people won on the table games. I dont know how much the players won at the tables.
I just compared these two casinos because I visited both of them recently. I have been to most of the casinos in Michigan but it has been several years.
Not a scientific study, just something a regular person noticed and would consider next time they choose a place to go.
I have been to Las Vegas a couple of times. Much better chances there winning than any place in Michigan.
Firekeepers is a pretty nice looking casino. Plenty of hotels within 10-15 minutes of it too. The slots here are pretty much just as tight if not tighter then the casinos in Detroit. They do have a wide selection of slot machines. Table selection is good and minimums are good even on the weekends. I have seen $5 minimums even on the weekends. Most of the casino feels pretty open and easy to move around in. Food selection is good. Buffet prices seem a bit high, but you do get a discount if you have a players card. The quality of the buffet is pretty good, but the sitting arrangement is bad. It feels very cramped inside the buffet.
My games are JOB Video Poker and Blackjack and I have no opinions of other gaming options.
Outside of Nevada, good blackjack conditions are impossible to find. But at least Firekeepers (locally dubbed "Moneykeepers") offers several $5 tables - weekdays anyway. The $5 tables are usually full and hard to find a seat. I settled for a $10 table - a multideck continuous shuffle affair - at least six decks - dealer hits soft 17. I played for a half hour or so - left up $7.50
The Video poker choices were better than other Michigan casinos. Unless you are familiar with video poker, you won't understand the lingo but I found a bank of 25 cent 9-6 machines (bonus) which got most of my play.
One needs to pay attention to the pay tables - along the back wall (near poker room) there is a row of seemingly identical $.25/.50/1.00 denomination Multi game machines. But the VP JOB pay tables range from 8-5 to 9-5. You need to check each one if you are particular. If you play alongside the wife, as I do, one of you will most probably have a lesser paying machine.
If you prefer a bar top machine, you will find poorer pay tables. I didn't check each one but the most frequent was 7-5. And it didn't matter what denomination - $1 credits had same returns. Again - I didn't check every barstool.
Even after choosing the best paytable, one still needs luck. I was fortunate to basically break even during my 4 hour visit. Most play was at the $.25 level but when ahead (on house money), I would change to the dollar level.
In all, I found the place to be completely acceptable.
Very Nice Employees, good location, just off I-94..Casino was very large..lots of penny machines..in fact too many. The smoking areas were confusing. But will go back.