Big windows let daylight into both levels of Draft Picks Pub House. Two screens, each 16 feet by 18 feet, hang on the west and north walls, and the outdoor deck has fire pits for colder nights. The Rock River Current described the room this way the week before it opened, and said natural light like this is something few people expect from a casino.
Ho-Chunk Gaming Beloit opened at 777 Willowbrook Road at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23. Two weeks later, the parts a Beloit local can use for an ordinary evening are a pub, a three-counter food court and a center-bar stage. The rest of the project arrives in phases over the next two years. For this holiday season, that makes the casino one more place to go on a calendar still built around Grand Avenue, State Street and Shirland Avenue.
What's open now
The $705 million, 240,000-square-foot building holds three places to eat or drink that are open today. Two more are still coming.
| Spot | What it is | Status as of early November 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Draft Picks Pub House | 220-seat gastro pub on two levels, two giant screens, outdoor deck with fire pits | Open |
| Food Truck Alley | Three counters styled as food trucks: Playin' Chicken, Maskadores, Bread Busterz | Open |
| Live Wire Lounge | Center bar with an elevated stage for live music | Open |
| FYR Steakhouse | Upscale steakhouse, run by a separate management company | Opening date not set |
| Black River Coffee Shop | Coffee house | "Opening soon" |
The pub menu leans toward comfort food. Rock River Current listed short rib macaroni and cheese, hand-battered PBR cheese curds and a half-pound bourbon barbecue burger. The burger beef is American wagyu from Hall of Fame Farms, the Muscoda cattle farm owned by NFL Hall of Famer Joe Thomas. The pub has roughly 20 beers on tap, mostly from Wisconsin breweries: Potosi Brewery, New Glarus Brewing Co., Duesterbeck's Brewing Co., Central Waters Brewing Co., Badger State Brewing Co., Ale Asylum and Door County Brewing Co.
Food Truck Alley is the faster option. Maskadores serves street tacos and other Mexican dishes, Playin' Chicken does hand-battered chicken fingers with dipping sauces, and Bread Busterz makes cheesesteaks and hot dogs like a bacon barbecue dog. The lineup can change. Dennis Fenrick, the casino's senior food and beverage manager, told the Rock River Current that if a concept "is either out of fad or not doing so well we can swap it out with a new food concept." The Food Truck Alley you visit in January may not have the same three counters you'd find this week.
Live Wire Lounge sits at the center of the casino floor, with an elevated stage for live music. On opening day, the Melody Best Band played that stage. The casino is scheduled to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Restaurant hours, entry rules and the upcoming music lineup are posted at ho-chunkgaming.com/beloit, which is the place to check before you plan a family dinner or a night built around a band.
What arrives later, and why that matters
The open spaces are only phase one. The Rock River Current reports that the next phase, due in fall 2027, adds an 18-story hotel with 312 rooms and a 2,000-seat conference center. The company that will run that hotel will also run FYR Steakhouse, which helps explain why the steakhouse had no opening date when the casino opened.
Employment follows the same schedule. The casino has more than 600 employees today. Ho-Chunk expects about 1,500 once the hotel and conference center open, which is expected to make it Beloit's largest employer. At 600 jobs, the casino is still well short of what it will be once all three phases are complete.
The site also has deep history. The Rock River Current noted that Ke-Chunk, one of the Ho-Chunk Nation's largest historic settlements, stood near where Turtle Creek meets the Rock River, close to the casino's location. Beloit is the seventh Ho-Chunk Gaming location, joining Black River Falls, Nekoosa, Wittenberg, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells and Madison.
Getting there will look different through 2028
The road to the casino is also still under construction. In its Oct. 21 notice, the City of Beloit said it had added temporary stop signs and a dedicated southbound left-turn lane on Willowbrook Road to help prevent rear-end collisions. Some practical points for anyone driving out:
- The temporary signs and lane setup will stay until the second phase of Willowbrook Road reconstruction, between Colley and Stateline roads, is finished in 2028.
- Parking on Willowbrook, Colley and Stateline roads is prohibited.
- If the casino lots fill up, message boards on site and along Willowbrook Road will show where to go.
The parking garage is open 24 hours a day, according to Stateline News. Before the opening, WKOW reported that Colley Road was closed to through traffic between Willowbrook Road and the I-39/90 bridge for reconstruction, while Springbrook Village stayed accessible. Check the city's notices for the current status before you plan a route along Colley.
The holiday season still runs on downtown dates
Every dated event on Beloit's November and December calendar happens away from Willowbrook Road, and most of them are within a few blocks of each other downtown. Here they are in order, starting with this Friday.
Friday, Nov. 6. First Friday Gallery Reception at the Beloit Art Center, 520 E. Grand Ave., 5 to 7 p.m., per the Downtown Beloit Association calendar.
Saturday, Nov. 7. The Winter Crafters and Farmers Market moves indoors at 557 E. Grand Ave. It runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon through April.
Friday, Nov. 13. Home Run Holiday Lights opens at ABC Supply Stadium, 217 Shirland Ave., with more than a million lights, a walk-through display, train rides, crafts, letters to Santa, food and drinks, and fire pits. Visit Beloit lists it Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m., with ticket prices that vary and free admission for children 3 and under.
Nov. 14. An All Saints Day concert at The Castle, per the venue's events listing.
Nov. 23 through Dec. 6. The Downtown Beloit Window Decorating Contest, as businesses dress their storefronts for the season.
Friday, Nov. 27. The Grand Lighted Holiday Parade and tree lighting downtown, 5 to 8 p.m., according to the Beloit Daily News. Small Business Saturday follows on Nov. 28.
Friday, Dec. 4. Holidazzle, 5 to 9 p.m., with area crafters and artists inside downtown businesses, cookie decorating and music. The Saturday after brings an extended winter market and a cocoa crawl from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
December at The Castle. The venue's listing shows Lunar Quill Revelries on Dec. 5 and a Bryan White concert on Dec. 11.
All of these events have fixed dates. The casino's food and music fit around them on the nights in between. On a Sunday with a game on, a two-story room with 16-by-18-foot screens and Wisconsin beers on tap is a new option on the south edge of town. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the plan is still Grand Avenue.
Want to know how the new places opening along Willowbrook Road and across Beloit could shape your plans for home? Renee Clark and the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Dream Partners team follow these openings closely. Schedule a consultation and we'll talk through what's coming to your corner of Rock County.
