The Bristol Casino, future home of Hard Rock, celebrated six weeks of operation Friday and during that time has documented guests from 49 states. Alaska is the lone holdout. Virginia’s first casino has attracted thousands of visitors to the former Bristol Mall and operators admit the response has far exceeded their expectations.
“We couldn’t have asked for more. We knew it would be a positive opening,” Hard Rock Bristol President Allie Evangelista said last week. “We knew that the community was excited about it and the team members were excited about opening the property, but I don’t think I could have anticipated the excitement that came with the feedback we received … The first six weeks have been a dream come true and – since it’s only a temporary property – I can only anticipate a buildup from here on until we open the permanent [casino] in 2024.”
That success is clearly reflected in the initial financial results – both preliminary and the July figures released last week by the Virginia Lottery, which oversees casino gaming in Virginia.
The Bristol Casino generated $11.71 million in adjusted gross revenues from gaming during its first partial month of operation, according to the report. $10.23 million came from its 870 slot machines and $1.48 million from its 21 table games. Total play generated in $2.1 million in taxes, including over $703,000 that will be divided among local governments in Southwest Virginia.
Last month, lottery officials revealed the Bristol Casino generated $3.74 million in adjusted gross revenues in its first week -- through July 14 – meaning the casino generated nearly $8 million in adjusted revenues during the final 17 days of July.
Hard Rock is a privately-owned company and, as such, doesn’t comment directly on financial information, but Evangelista said the initial performance was better than anticipated.
“We exceeded expectations because we didn’t have much to compare with. Typically, when you open a casino in a market, there are other casinos you can compare with and what you think you’re going to do,” she said. “Our nearest competitor is in a different state, 2.5 hours away, with a difficult drive to get there. Our projections were conservative, but also based on the unknown or when we open casinos in other areas.
“Why I think it exceeded our expectations is the support of the community. We waited so long to open a casino that people were excited. Nothing replaces people here, who are excited, who wanted us here --because word-of-mouth is the best marketing we can get. I think we underestimated the power of how much the community embraced us,” Evangelista said.
Bristol is the first of four voter-approved casinos to open in Virginia. Legislation first introduced in the 2019 General Assembly Session ultimately became law in the spring of 2020. It allowed five cities – Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond – to conduct public referendums to allow one casino to operate in each. Bristol voters overwhelmingly approved the concept, with a 71% majority, in November 2020.
Delving in the numbers
Shortly before the Bristol Casino opened, Hard Rock announced a new customer loyalty program. So far, 33,000 have signed up for it in Bristol, which helps Hard Rock track where they came from and learn more about them – hence the 49-state statistic.
“We’re excited about that because every time we enroll someone in our Unity by Hard Rock loyalty program, we get their information about where they’re from, if they’re visiting. If they had a loyalty card with another competitor, we are able to match that and give them the same service and benefits they’re used to,” Evangelista said.
She then cited some statistics from the facility’s July 2022 report.
4,500 loyalty program patrons drove here from 100 miles or more.
65% of loyalty guests came from within 60 miles.
Sullivan County has the largest number of loyalty guests, 21%, with 6,000 signed up.
About 1,300 from the Knoxville area are now loyalty members.
Tennessee and Virginia have the most loyalty members, followed by North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Evangelista said the property has been able to take advantage of its proximity to Interstate 81 and the summer tourist season.
“We know, in general, Bristol Virginia is a place people go to vacation and July is a hot summer month for people to travel around the country,” she said. “People were visiting Bristol Virginia before we were here so now they have another place to stop for a day or so. We feel as we continue to grow our resort they will one day stop for three or four and it becomes more like a destination. That is why we have 49 states – they happened to be here already.”
Feedback from consumers
Evangelista said public response has, thus far, been very positive to the temporary casino and its restaurant, bar and sportsbook amenities. And they are working to address complaints and concerns.
“It was 90% very positive – for the property layout, the product that we offer in the slots and table games, the offerings in our restaurants, but also how friendly and how positive the team members have been in their new roles. The community knows they are learning – there is a learning curve – but the public has been so complimentary of my team, which makes me really proud,” Evangelista said.
While construction of the Hard Rock Hotel hasn’t yet begun, the casino is working with area hotels to help accommodate some of its guests.
“We’re finding some challenges securing hotel rooms on the weekends because hotel occupancies are growing for the main places we tend to host our guests,” she said. “Obviously coming up on September becomes a big challenge with all of the events in town [music festival, NASCAR races]. We have some, but we do not have all the rooms we would like to have. But that’s a good problem for the community.”
Where there’s smoke
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The most oft-heard complaint in early weeks of operation was regarding smoking on the gaming floor.
“That was the biggest pushback,” she said. “First, we are a smoking facility, and we have that all over the country. There are casinos that are fully non-smoking and fully smoking. Here the gaming floor is smoking with a non-smoking gaming area. Then everything outside the casino floor is non-smoking.”
One major change was recently completed to try and lessen that impact for those who don’t smoke and don’t wish to be around it, she said
“When we opened the facility with the timeline we had, we had to rent HVAC units because the units we purchased were delayed due to supply chain,” Evangelista said. “We rented units that were not the capacity we have now. We finalized the exchange from the rental to the units we own that use 100% outdoor air on Aug. 8. There is a different flow on the gaming floor now. We have what we call ‘smoke eaters.’ That is a filtration system that gets placed in casinos for that reason. It’s a much cleaner air.”
The air flow from the new system was so strong, in some areas it had to be modified because it was blowing money around.
Evangelista said the air in the gaming area is “a lot better” and typically smoke is “much lighter and less noticeable” during weekdays and lower traffic times, compared to the busiest periods Friday and Saturday nights.
The casino also has a non-smoking gaming area and, in response to concerns, has added a new entrance.
“We have an entrance to the non-smoking gaming area without going on the gaming floor. If our guests access the property from the restaurant entrance and go to the sports book, there is a hallway that takes you into the non-smoking area. There is a cage there so you can make transactions in there without having to go to the main floor. That should help, especially if guests have a more allergic reaction, that’s a better experience for sure,” Evangelista said.
“21 is not enough”
Another customer complaint so far is an inability to access the casino’s table games – whether they were already busy with players or not open. As a temporary facility in a new market, the demand for table games versus slots was among the unknowns.
“When guests come in and are excited to play on a blackjack table on a Saturday night and we’re full, I can understand the frustration,” she said. “Typically 90% of revenue comes from slots. That is the standard. Typically slot machines are the bread and butter of the business but also something easier to manage – from the overhead, labor and training – it’s much easier to turn on a slot machine than to train a table games dealer that takes years to become proficient on the job. There is a little bit of that.”
Evangelista said they recognize the issue and are working to make changes – but it will take time.
“Twenty-one [table games] is not enough. We are looking to add a few games to the floor, hopefully before the holidays. But you can’t just press a button and say, ‘Amazon, ship me a blackjack table.’ There are vendors that are authorized [by the Virginia Lottery] but its 12 weeks out before we can get new furniture in. We have to get approval from the regulators – the Virginia Lottery – so it’s several months to make a change in the layout.”
She said the composition of the casino is under constant review.
“Now that we have a gaming floor open and our guests are playing, we evaluate the performance of our games, whether it’s the slot machines – the pennies or the dollars. Do we need a $25 machine or a $100 machine or do we need a pai gow table or another three-card poker? We look, based on performance, then we make adjustments. What we can’t do is overnight it.
“Everything is ordered from a manufacturer approved by the state. It’s shipped to us, then it’s approved by the lottery before we can change. And then we have camera adjustments. It’s a whole process that takes place so it’s really 30 to 90 days to make a small change and 90 days or more before you can make big changes,” Evangelista said.
Just as the canino’s dealers are learning a new trade, many customers are also getting their first taste of certain games.
“Sometimes the players don’t know. Some of them are learning how to play some of the games for the first time and they’ll try something new to see what they like. Based on their behavior and pattern of play, that’s how we decide what we need extras on,” she said. “Even though we have 21 table games there are times we can’t open them all because of labor restrictions and we have to get a little more staff.”
To that end the casino is completing another dealer’s school.
“We’re still hiring some skilled talent. We have a new dealer’s school that is about to graduate and we’re waiting on licenses. We have 32 team members who went through and we expect to process about 25 of them. That should help with some of the challenges we’re having opening tables on the gaming floor. We’ll onboard some people with a new career they’re excited about,” Evangelista said.
The casino is also preparing to add some new slot machines to the mix.
“We have approximately 63 slot machines on the way to us, waiting for shipment and approval through lottery, that is a brand new product not available in the state yet,” she said. “Once it gets approved that will be added to our gaming floor, so I’m excited about that. That could be within the next 30 to 90 days as well.”
Staffing
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With approximately 600 workers, the Bristol Casino immediately became one of the Twin city’s largest employers. And while there has been some expected turnover, the rate is well below industry averages for new casinos. Evangelista, who has operated casinos in multiple states, said staffing has been a mixture of a “lot” of successes and “some challenges.”
“We are properly staffed. We have some positions we’re still trying to fill,” she said. “We have several dozen team members still awaiting lottery licensing. I feel good about where we are with staffing. The last hiring event was to overcome any turnover that we have coming. I think the community, in general was excited to work with Hard Rock.
“I think the turnover we’ve had has been lower than expected – about 18% - since we started hiring back in March. That is not bad. Typical turnover in the industry – prior to COVID – could be up to 30% to 40%. It’s a different industry when it comes to lifestyle. We work nights, we work weekends, we work holidays, so we are used to higher turnover than most businesses, but we’ve seen much lower turnover for a grand opening and that is very good,” Evangelista said.
Because the casino is open continuously, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, scheduling has been the primary hurdle.
“Most of our turnover has been scheduling – not enjoying or not adapting to working the ‘off’ hours that they’ve never worked before -- and licensing,” Evangelista said.
The Virginia Lottery requires every employee to undergo a background check and be licensed.
“When we hire them it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get licensed. Prior to opening we were able to operate with those team members on payroll without licenses which we’re no longer able to do. A lot of folks who didn’t get licensed were terminated which is hard, but it’s not something we can control,” she said.
The lottery has three levels of licenses for those who manage and work at casinos. The key manager license is for the executive management team, involves a comprehensive criminal background check going back up to 25 years and costs $55,000. Those positions are all filled, Evangelista said.
The lottery also issues gaming and non-gaming licenses. Gaming licenses apply to any employee that works on the gaming floor, operates or repairs gaming equipment, provides security, counts money, operates information systems or has any contact with gaming materials, according to the Virginia Lottery.
Non-gaming licenses are required for other employees of a company that holds a gaming license, such as kitchen or food service employees. Both licenses cost $533
“We currently pay for all of the licenses for our candidates. They provide documentation, driving records from every state they’ve lived in, background check, fingerprinting. It could take three to six weeks to get licensed. Some cases have taken longer. I’ve lived in seven different states so that meant seven background checks,” she said.
Outside the casino
Away from the gaming floor, feedback has also been positive for its two food options – Mr. Lucky’s restaurant and Brick’d – and the Bristol Bar. Evangelista said some players who frequent Hard Rock locations around the country visited here and were complimentary of dining facilities.
“The feedback has been amazing, but we haven’t promoted our restaurants,” Evangelista said. “We wanted our team to get really good at what they are doing, build the consistency and make sure our ticket times were not too long. We’re getting to the point where things are more consistent and more timely. Feedback from our guests is great.”
Mr. Lucky’s menu includes salads, soups, sandwiches and burgers, plus main courses including steaks, seafood, chicken, ribs, barbecue, plus desserts and appetizers. The hamburger and Philly Steak sandwich are currently the top sellers.
“We don’t just do food, we do good meals. Everything we do is made in house,” she said. “All the sauces, soups, salad dressings, our biscuit dough and pizza dough, we even make our own croutons . I think that is really something unique that most restaurants don’t’ bother to do.”
Beverage sales have been “amazing,” she said, adding the bar is attracting guests that may not venture into the casino. They recently began hosting live music with local bands, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The future
Beyond the new casino, the exterior of the former Bristol Mall looks much like it has and that won’t change much. Inside, she said, is another story.
Work to gut the inside the remainder of the former mall – demolition, asbestos removal – is complete and construction is expected to begin soon. The most obvious visual change will be construction of the first hotel tower but a start date isn’t yet determined.
The plan is still for everything, the hotel, the Hard Rock Casino, all the restaurants and bars, Hard Rock Live entertainment venue to all open simultaneously.
“We’re finalizing some of the plans but everything is on track and we’re still aiming for May 2024,” Evangelista said.
Wager Mage
Photo: DS stories
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