The Hard Rock Rocksino, the top money-making casino in Ohio, is opening a gas station, the RockStop Gas & Wash, near Northfield. The planned opening is October.
The latest venture is part of a program of expanded amenities the Rocksino plans to help it compete against the Jack Cleveland Casino in Cleveland and the Jack Thistledown Racino in North Randall.
Competition is tough but profitable, says Mark Tricano, senior vice president of Jack Entertainment LLC. His company just finished a $70 million upgrade of the Thistledown and will soon import electronic gaming to Cleveland, to attract millennials.
The voters of Ohio first authorized four casino resorts, in Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, but a few years later the state’s seven racetracks were authorized to become racinos. The Horseshoe Thistledown Racino opened in 2013 with the Rocksino following a few months later.
The Northern Ohio casinos between them bring in a total of $542.3 million, with the Rocksino accounting for $225.1 million of that. Coming in second is Jack Casino Cleveland with $203.6 million and Jack Thistledown, with $113.5 million.
The racinos are only allowed to deploy video lottery terminals, unlike the Las Vegas style casinos, so the Rocksino makes up for that by offering a variety of non-gaming amenities, such as five restaurants and an 1,800-seat theater.
A Cleveland based gaming industry expert, Jay Masrekar, told Crain’s Cleveland Business that downtown casinos typically don’t do as well as suburban casinos. “Anecdotally, I know people on the West Side who skip downtown and go to the Hard Rock Rocksino, and that’s mainly because of the amenities they have and the kind of experience they provide,” he said.
In addition, the Rocksino is the only one of the three North Ohio casinos that is in a dedicated casino building.
The Thistledown, by comparison, is in a building “not suitable for gaming,” according to Masurekar.
And then there’s the Cleveland casino, the Jack Downtown, which is housed in the historic Higbee Building, an iconic department store from the 1930s, but which, unlike most casinos, is spread out over several floors.
Besides amenities like the new gas station, the Rocksino has its Hard Rock loyalty program, which it uses to channel rewards to its other non-casino offerings, such as dining, retail and entertainment, and maybe even comped gasoline.
