Casino pays out over $12M in jackpots in first 12 days

BRISTOL, Va. — Officials of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol are basking in the glow of overwhelmingly positive response to the gleaming new $500 million complex.

More than 110,000 people have visited the facility since it opened Nov. 14, including 58,000 during 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.

And it was just the casino and the hotel.

The Hard Rock Café tucked inside reported the most successful opening in the brand’s history — which includes over 300 locations in 70 countries —, HR Bristol President Allie Evangelista said Tuesday.

“Hard Rock Café had its record high grand opening day for any café we’ve ever opened — right here in Bristol,” Evangelista said. “The café teams that come in and open — they go all over the world — they said it was the most successful of any they’ve opened. That’s pretty cool.”

Evangelista said, overall, things have gone well.

“It was much better than expectations in both visitation and revenues,” she said. “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.”

The new facility replaces the temporary Bristol Casino, which operated from 2022 until earlier this month.

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, she said.

“Feedback was amazing. Everybody is extremely impressed with the property and it was exactly what we wanted to hear,” Evangelista said. “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 details, the memorabilia, the live entertainment. It’s not just a large casino floor.”

Nearly $1 million worth of music items from major artists of all genres is on display throughout the property.

Feedback about the food, restaurants and bars has also been positive.

“Because the property is bigger, people are discovering more and more as they visit a second time,” she said. “We notice that business at 621 [bar] is picking up. They’ve been really busy this week, even better than the grand opening. YouYu [noodles] has been significantly impacted. People keep coming back for food there. It’s quick grab food but fresh and made from scratch and our VIP lounge is getting good feedback as well.”

They’ve also received high marks for Hard Rock Live, which featured Blake Shelton on opening night.

“People think they want a large venue to watch a concert and there are different experiences. When you go to a venue that has no columns, there’s no bad seat and its, 2,000 people max, your experience is a lot more personal. I had guests telling me they felt Blake Shelton was singing to them because they were so close. That kind of experience you wouldn’t get in a large venue.”

This week they announced George Thorogood & The Destroyers would perform there Feb. 28.

“We have almost $5 million in audio visual equipment in that room so there is not artist who will come in and feel they’re playing somewhere not up to their standards. It’s not the largest room in the world but it provides an intimate experience with the best in A-V equipment,” she said.