Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol opened today, Nov. 14, with the company holding its ceremonial smashing of guitars to officially welcome in the resort’s first guests.
Straddling the Virginia-Tennessee border, Bristol on the Virginia side of the border was designated for a commercial casino license through state legislation passed in 2020. The push to bring Las Vegas-style casinos to the commonwealth and end Virginia’s ban on slot machines and table games was led by prominent Bristol businessmen Jim McGlothlin of United Co. and Clyde Stacy of Par Ventures.
After state lawmakers allowed five cities to consider casino developments to spur economic activity, McGlothlin and Stacy partnered with Hard Rock International. Local voters in Bristol signed off on the gaming development in November 2020 with over 71% support, the highest of the four cities that held successful casino referendums that election.
Four years later, Hard Rock’s more than half-billion-dollar vision has arrived.
It was a moonshot,” McGlothlin said of overturning Virginia’s ban on casino gambling.
With the $515 million resort finished, over 1,000 people employed, tens of millions of local tax dollars already received from the temporary casino’s operation, and a 45-foot-tall guitar standing outside the 620,000-square-foot facility, McGlothlin believes there’s no buyer’s remorse.
“I bet if we did the referendum today, we’d get 90% support,” McGlothlin, dubbed a “Bristol Living Legend” this summer by Virginia Business, told the crowd during today’s ceremony.
Blake Shelton Headlines
As is the case with every Hard Rock casino and resort destination, the theme is music, music, music. The rock ‘n’ roll-themed integrated resort plans to host live music most nights and major headlining acts throughout the week.
Country music superstar Blake Shelton will take on the opening headlining duties tonight with a sold-out concert in the resort’s 2,000-seat Hard Rock Live venue.
Shelton makes sense for the first night of Hard Rock Bristol, as the town is considered the birthplace of country music. That honor stems from Fiddlin’ John Carson recording his rendition of “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” in the Virginia town in 1923.
Hard Rock Bristol’s gaming floor is equipped with 1,500 slot machines, 50 live dealer table games, and a Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook. The 303-room concave-shaped hotel has several restaurants and bars, including a Hard Rock Café, Hard Rock’s signature steak and seafood house Council Oak, and a food court “marketplace” with everything from fried chicken and soul food to a noodle bar.
Music memorabilia includes items from Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash.
Virginia Becoming Major Gaming Market
Once among the most restrictive gaming states, Virginia’s commercial gaming industry continues to expand. Hard Rock Bristol is the second permanent casino to open after Rivers Casino Portsmouth, a non-hotel property, in January 2023.
Caesars Entertainment plans to open a $750 million casino resort destination in Danville next month. A fourth casino is underway in Norfolk, and Petersburg voters last week signed off on a casino resort from The Cordish Companies, which runs Live!-branded properties.
Churchill Downs also recently opened its gaming resort in Dumfries called The Rose. That property offers slot-like historical racing machines.
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