Bristol Casino to open in a temporary location

Our first look inside the Bristol Casino

Virginia’s first casino “Bristol Casino – Future Home of Hard Rock” has been opened in a temporary location within a former Bristol shopping mall on Friday. The Hard Rock permanent complex has been under construction and is scheduled to open in May 2024.

The Bristol Casino will open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, featuring 870 slot machines, 21 tables, and a sportsbook. The casino space at the temporary location is 30,000 square feet. The space includes the main casino floor as well as non-smoking and high-limit gaming areas. It also has Lucky’s and Brick’d restaurants, as well as the sports bar and lounge Bristol Bar.

In an interview, Hard Rock Bristol President Allie Evangelista explained that this is an area where people have to travel a long distance to get to a casino, and current volumes are in line with an opening there, catering to customers who live within a 90-minute drive, who have been the most regular guests thus far.

According to Evangelista, many people are eager to work for the company. Despite the fact that the majority of them have never been to a casino.

“People want to work for us. So when we do a hiring event, which we just had one last week, we have another one coming on Monday, people just show up and that is great,” she said.

Furthermore, the management of Hard Rock International’s latest project expressed their pride in their work in a joint statement. They said, “‘Bristol Casino – Future Home of Hard Rock’ is something of which Bristolians can be very proud. We are glad that the project is having an immediate impact in boosting Bristol’s economy, by bringing at least 600 new, good-paying jobs to the city.”

“This is only a start, as the project will generate even more jobs when the permanent casino opens.” they added.

Bristol Casino will not be the state’s only casino. Over the next two years, three more casinos are expected to open in Virginia. Rivers Casino Portsmouth is set to open in early 2023 as the state’s first permanent casino.