Casino Developer Hard Rock Resorts have now been awarded a casino license enabling them to operate in New Jersey. This will see the former hotel and casino resort the Trump Taj Mahal, open as the Hard Rock in Atlantic City; which they have been redeveloping since last year when it was sold by the billionaire tycoon Carl Icahn. Recent meetings saw the New Jersey commission that control the licensing of casinos within the state vote massively in favour of the brand having a license to operate as a casino in the state.
This decision will see the resort become a rock ‘n’ roll casino, similar to the Las Vegas resort and is due to open on the 28th June in Atlantic City. The previous Indian Palace themed resort, that occupies 4.2m square metres will be transformed into a hotel, retail outlet, dining area, entertainment facility and state of the art casino.
The chief exec of Hard Rock International said “What we have in store is going to blow people away. It will be a boost for the reinvention of Atlantic City”. Hard Rock have budgeted a massive 30 million dollars to spend on entertainment within the first year of operations for the resort, which is set to see upwards of 300 nights of live comedy, drama and music for customers to enjoy.
The opening of the Hard Rock Resort in Atlantic City is great news for the state of New Jersey, as not only will it attract an increased number of tourists to the state, it will also create 4,000 new jobs, which they have already had over 50,000 applications for, to sift through. This will go some way to make up for the jobs that were lost as a result of 5 casinos shutting down since 2014. The former Revel Casino, rebranded as the Ocean Resort Casino is set to open on the same day, which looks to make the 28th June a big date for Atlantic City.
This latest news coming out of Atlantic City is great for the city and soon the city could start to rival Las Vegas in terms of becoming a hub for gambling within the USA. The state is currently trying to have laws passed to enable sports betting to become legal, as it already takes place at racetracks across Atlantic City. In spite of it being pretty much illegal in general outside Nevada, home of Las Vegas. If the law is passed, in addition to the land-based casinos which are gathering pace again, it could be a real positive. New Jersey already benefits from a thriving online casino market, with MGM and PartyCasino being the two latest additions, offering approved online casino services to all local residents. Legal and regulated online casinos became open for business in the state in 2013 and have raked in a lot of income for New Jersey with regards to tax revenues.
