Virginia: Permanent Hard Rock Bristol casino attracts 110,000+ visitors, pays out $12M+ in jackpots

2024-11-27

United States

Reading time 1:29 min

The permanent Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol in Virginia has seen an overwhelmingly positive response since its opening on November 14. More than 110,000 people have visited the facility, including 58,000 during the grand opening weekend. The hotel reported 99% occupancy that Thursday through Saturday.

In the 12 days since opening, the casino has paid out more than $12 million in jackpots, including over $7.3 million on opening weekend. The new facility replaces the temporary Bristol Casino, which operated from 2022 until earlier this month.

"It was much better than expectations in both visitation and revenues," said Allie Evangelista, HR Bristol President. "Our jackpot payouts obviously correlate to the number of people in the building and how well everybody is perceiving the property. So much play generates more payouts," she added as reported by the Bristol Herald Courier.

According to Evangelista, the new facility generated a sharp increase in visitors from nearby metro areas including Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Asheville and Charlotte, N.C., Roanoke, Virginia, and Atlanta.

"Feedback was amazing. Everybody is extremely impressed with the property and it was exactly what we wanted to hear," Evangelista noted. "We didn’t open the property early because we couldn’t open the full experience. Making the decision to delay the opening and have everything at once was the right decision, just based on guest feedback."

"A lot of our regular guests, people that travel for gaming who’ve been to casinos all over the country, are sharing this is a Las Vegas property in Bristol. They feel like they have everything they would get somewhere else but it’s now here in their community," she said. "People were impressed with the attention to detail, the memorabilia, the live entertainment. It’s not just a large casino floor."

Evangelina also highlighted the success of the Hard Rock Café located inside the facility, as it reported the most successful opening in the brand’s history — which includes over 300 locations in 70 countries. Feedback about the food, restaurants, and bars has also been positive.

The facility has also received high marks for Hard Rock Live, which featured Blake Shelton on opening night. This week they announced George Thorogood & The Destroyers would perform there on February 28.