Hard Rock casino-hotel to give guests guitars to play in rooms

NEW YORK — Hard Rock will open its Atlantic City casino resort on June 28.

Jim Allen, the global entertainment and hospitality company’s CEO, made the announcement Wednesday at Hard Rock’s Times Square restaurant.

The former Trump Taj Mahal casino is being rebranded as a Hard Rock property. Guests will drive past a massive electric guitar at its entrance, and will even be given their own electric guitars to play in their hotel rooms.

“This is an entertainment facility, not just a casino,” Allen said. “It’s not about, ‘Come in, hit a buffet, play $50 on slot machines and then go home.’ That’s not what we’re about.”

The casino announced it will put 60 concerts on sale Friday, and committed to presenting 300 nights of live music in its first year.

It is one of two shuttered Atlantic City casinos due to reopen this summer, along with the former Revel casino, newly named the Ocean Resort Casino.

Together, the resorts are intended to restore some of the business and luster Atlantic City lost since 2014, when five of its 12 casinos went out of business, even as some worry that expanding a market that has regained stability as a smaller entity could lead to the same problems that forced the business contraction.

Among the musical acts that Allen said will play at the casino were Third Eye Blind, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, Stone Temple Pilots and Counting Crows, along with Chris Young, Frankie Valli, Toby Keith, Steely Dan and Kid Rock. The day after it opens, Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg will perform in the Hard Rock Cafe associated with the property.