Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Bristol celebrates one-year anniversary with over 2 million visitors

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Bristol has welcomed over 2 million guests in its first year since opening its permanent facility in November 2024.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since we opened the main facility,” said Allie Evangilista, the property president, in an interview with WJHL. “A lot of international guests have visited us, and altogether since we opened our temporary facility, we’ve had over 5 million people right here in Bristol, which is a great way to show people from all over the country what a beautiful region we have."

Bristol Vice Mayor Jake Holmes said the casino has significantly boosted tourism and local revenue.  “Tourism has skyrocketed,” he said. “We’ve had so many new visitors come in; they go to the casino, they go downtown, they go all over. So that’s been a huge win. Our lodging and meal taxes have jumped up.”

Hard Rock in Bristol was the first casino to open in Virginia, which only legalized casinos in 2020. Evangilista emphasized that Hard Rock does not see other state casinos as competitors. 

"Casinos are specifically positioned in the areas where we can complement each other rather than technically compete with each other,” Evangilista said. “We’re very good partners with the other casinos in the state.”

Holmes noted that bringing a casino to the area required community approval through a referendum. “Out of the five casinos that are legal in Virginia, ours had the highest voter referendum on it,” Holmes said. “So, definitely our community wanted it.”

Over the past year, Hard Rock has also been active in local philanthropy. “Since we opened the facility last year in November, we have donated over $1 million to nonprofit organizations,” Evangilista said. “But we have reached over $2 million now in donations from our team members and the company to support nonprofits.”

Holmes praised the casino for its community involvement. “They’ve just shown that they don’t want to just be on Gate City Highway by themselves,” he said. “They want to be in the community, part of it, and really serving the community.”

To mark its first anniversary, Hard Rock Bristol is hosting a free concert featuring Robert Randolph on Friday.