Construction is finally underway on the Hard Rock Casino in Rockford, Illinois. It has been a year since the temporary Rockford Casino opened. If everything goes as scheduled, the new state-of-the-art casino will open in late 2023.
The Casino resort will include:
- 65,000 square foot casino
- 1,500 slot machines
- Sportsbook
- 60 table games
- Poker room with 10-12 tables
- Hard Rock Cafe
- Council Oak Steakhouse
- Asian cuisine restaurant called YouYu
- 23,500 square foot conference venue with up to 1,600 seats
- 250 room hotel
Play USA states that the new facility is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs in both the construction and casino job sectors.
Hard Rock Casino Rockford President Geno Iafrate stated that this is a $300 plus million project. A portion of casino revenue will go to the Northern Illinois University Rockford Promise Scholarship Program. The scholarship is dedicated to offering free college tuition to students in Rockford public schools.
"Just last week Hard Rock approved a more than three dollar increase in the minimum wage, voluntarily for all of their non-tipped employees. It shows that they are not only a wonderful community partner, but they're also really working to be one of the best employers in town. The project has already provided 800 to 1,000 construction jobs, 600 to 800 full-time jobs, an average wage of $50,000 a year. Today, already more than 200 kids are going to Northern Illinois University, tuition-free, for four years. Seventy percent of them are first-generation college-going students. Seventy percent of them are kids of color."
Rockford Mayor | Tom McNamara
McNamara said the new facility would generate revenue for the city government through taxes and bring revenue to local businesses.
Casino News Daily reports that ground was broken near the entrance of Interstate 90 on East State Street. The new permanent casino will replace the temporary casino on Bell School Road by September 2023 according to some reports. However, the full build-out which will include a hotel in Phase II is still some three years away.
In nearby Beloit, just 30 minutes away, the Ho-Chunk Nation is building a $405 million casino.
See DataBid Blog titled: Casinos in Chicago & Rockford Making Progress
See Databid Blog titled: Hard Rock Casino gets Green Light for Permanent Casino
