After revealing in May that it was preparing to spend some $500 million in order to transform the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort into the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, Hard Rock Cafe International Incorporated has now reportedly released some details regarding what it hopes to offer inside the remodeled New Jersey venue.
According to a story from the Las Vegas Sun newspaper citing a report from the Associated Press news service, the Orlando-based hotel and casino operator purchased the Atlantic City property in March for $50 million after the previous owner, billionaire businessman Carl Icahn, had closed the once grand venue five months earlier amid a long-running labor dispute concerning pension, health care, and wage issues for its workers.
The newspaper reported that the Boardwalk property was opened in 1990 by then-owner Donald Trump at a cost of about $1.2 billion but was bought by Icahn in 2015 after its parent company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.
The details concerning what could be in store for future visitors to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City reportedly came from a wish-list letter sent by Hard Rock Cafe International Incorporated, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. After obtaining a partially blacked-out copy of the correspondence via a request filed under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, the news service detailed that the operator would like to open the remodeled venue in the summer of 2018 complete with poolside and restaurant gambling facilities as well as skill-based slots, fantasy sportsbetting, and VIP gaming rooms.
The newspaper reported that the Hard Rock Cafe International Incorporated is now hoping to discuss this wish-list with state gambling regulators as it wants the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City to feature new slots not currently available in New Jersey including units with technology that has been designed to increase the amount of time players spend on the machines.
The operator reportedly moreover hopes to be given permission to designate areas away from the casino floor “for traditional gaming or other types of gaming” such as sportsbetting or skill-based games while obtaining the right to host tournaments and promotions without notifying the New Jersey regulator five days in advance.
“We would like the ability to designate space off of the main casino floor for games at a (food and beverage) venue, pool or other area,” read the letter from Hard Rock Cafe International Incorporated obtained by the Associated Press. “We would like the ability to create private (VIP) gaming spaces that are not visible to the general public. We would like the ability to have these spaces on the casino floor or in the hotel.”