Hard Rock aims to open permanent Rockford casino in August 2024
Hard Rock Casino Rockford in Illinois is under construction.
US.- Hard Rock has unveiled new images of the permanent Hard Rock Casino Rockford in Illinois, which is set to open in August 2024. The company has been granted an extention from the Illinois Gaming Board on the licence for its temporary casino while it works on the project.
Rockford Casino: A Hard Rock Opening Act, the temporary venue at 610 Bell School Road, will remain open until November 2024. Construction of the permanent facility began in September 2022. The company expects to bring gaming equipment to the site in May 2024 and open in late August 2024.
Geno Iafrate, Hard Rock Rockford’s president, thanked the gambling regulator in Illinois for its support. He said that developing a casino location in Rockford had been a dream for the company for more than two decades.
Iafrate said that the progress on the permanent casino is evident for anyone passing by on I-90. He said: “Hard Rock will deliver on its promise of a premium destination casino that will be well worth the wait.”
The Hard Rock Casino Rockford resort is to include a 65,000-square-foot casino with about 1,500 slot machines, a sportsbook and about 60 table games, including blackjack, roulette and craps. It may also include a poker room of 10-12 tables. There will be a 250-room hotel, a Hard Rock Café, Council Oak Steakhouse, YouYu authentic Asian cuisine restaurant and a food hall with a common seating area.
There will also be a Hard Rock Live event centre that can serve as a 23,500-square-foot conference centre or 1,600-seat live concert venue. Hard Rock will provide the city of Rockford with a guaranteed $7m a year. It will also pay city impact fees of 1 per cent of its adjusted gross receipts for the first two years of operations and 0.5 per cent of adjusted gross receipts for each year after that.
Hard Rock has also agreed to provide $150,000 annually to support economic development in at-risk or impoverished areas of the city.
See also: Illinois Gaming Board gives preliminary approval to Bally’s Chicago temporary casino
