The first full month of operation at the Hard Rock Casino at Bristol had the facility make nearly $14.3 million in revenue.
The Bristol casino opened on July 8.
To be exact, the gross revenue at the Bristol facility was $14,279,379, up 21.9% from the July Virginia revenue report ($11.7 million), which, of course, reflected a partial month.
The revenue from the 870 slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino at Bristol was $11,440,383 for August, up 11.8% from July’s $10.24 million. As a daily average, August actually was a slight drop – $369,045 average for 31 days last month vs. $426,520 per day for 24 days in July.
The table games were a different story.
The revenue from the 21 table games at Bristol brought in $2,838,997 of revenue for August, a 91.7% increase in a month-over-month comparison with July’s $1.48 million. That figure jumped from $61,708 per day in July to a $91,581 daily average last month. Bristol’s casino is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The casino tax in August was $2,570,288.
Hard Rock has about two months under its belt as a physical casino, with others on the way in the state, but Virginia online casinos have not been made available yet.
Other Virginia Casinos in Progress
In November 2020, four Virginia communities passed referendums to approve the construction of casinos.
The Bristol casino is a temporary facility while a permanent one is being built. The permanent structure is slated to open in summer 2024.
The other cities that approved casinos were Norfolk, Portsmouth and Danville.
The project in Norfolk is now slated to be between the Harbor Park baseball stadium, home of the minor-league Norfolk Tides, and an Amtrak train station. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe Gaming Authority announced those plans this month after an idea to build a casino inside the ballpark was scrapped.
As for Richmond, the fifth candidate, it appears that 2023 is the earliest that the state’s capital city can approve a casino plan after the voters there rejected it in 2021.
Latest on Sports Betting in Virginia
The wagering action for Virginia online sports betting slowed down in July, as expected during the slower summer months.
The state’s July figures were released on Sept. 1 and they showed a sports betting handle, or amount wagered, of $266 million. That was the lowest amount in almost a year, since the state recorded $182.4 million in August 2021.
The revenue for sports betting did rise in July, increasing by about 65% to $21.4 million compared to June’s $13 million.
Until the Bristol casino came along, the all-mobile sports betting market was the only gaming option in the state apart from the lottery and horse racing.
