In Indiana and Spectacle Entertainment reportedly joined forces with Hard Rock International on Thursday to break ground on what is to become the midwestern state’s newest non-riverboat casino, the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.

According to a Thursday report from The Times of Northwest Indiana newspaper, the coming $300 million facility is due to sit on a 30-acre site in the city of Gary featuring a casino with some 1,650 slots as well as 80 gaming tables. Spectacle Entertainment purportedly detailed that the 200,000 sq ft development, which could be open by the end of the year, is also set to offer six restaurants, a sportsbook, a Rock Shop retail element and a 2,000-seat concert venue.

Legislative largess:

Spectacle Entertainment is responsible for the floating Majestic Star Casino Hotel and Majestic Star Casino Hotel II in Gary’s Buffington Harbor and was reportedly given the right to move one of these enterprises onto dry land following the May passage of a wide ranging piece of gaming legislation. The firm will purportedly moreover now be required to forsake the license for its second Lake County property so as to leave the coming Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana as its only northern Indiana gambling venue.

Additional attractions:

The Times of Northwest Indiana reported that Spectacle furthermore eventually intends to enhance the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana via the construction of a hotel featuring as many as 300 rooms as well as an adjacent multi-story parking garage and detailed that the finished property could one day add up to 500 new positions to its existing local workforce of 950 people.

Conceivable competition:

Rod Ratcliff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Spectacle, reportedly told the newspaper that his firm’s alliance with Hard Rock International will help to ensure that the coming Gary venue remains an attractive destination even if new casinos one day open in the nearby southern suburbs of Chicago.

Ratcliff reportedly declared…

“We’ll obviously watch what goes on in Illinois with a close eye but today we’re quite comfortable with the location that we have. We’ll do well in the market.”

Distinctive destination:

For his part, Jon Lucas, Chief Operating Officer for Hard Rock International, reportedly told The Times of Northwest Indiana that the coming Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana will be his firm’s 14th North American casino and is to be ‘a first-class facility’ possessing a significant ‘wow factor.’

Lucas reportedly told the newspaper…

“We’re not about just building a box with slots and tables in it. We’re about creating an entertainment venue. You will find that our food and beverage and restaurants along with our entertainment is what really helps to sell the brand and helps to create the excitement in our facility and we will deliver that here in northwest Indiana for sure. We do grand openings even better than ground-breakings. We don’t just cut ribbons. We smash guitars and have parties.”