Elaborate grand openings for Hard Rock, Ocean Resort casinos in Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- Atlantic City's brand new Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and Ocean Resort Casino held elaborate grand openings Thursday -- even though they actually opened a day earlier than scheduled.
The previously shuttered casinos both received permission Wednesday afternoon from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to begin full operations, so both immediately started letting gamblers inside and pleaded for people to come back for Thursday's festivities.
Hard Rock, in particular, did not want to take away from the impact of its Thursday grand opening, which included celebrities and a mass guitar smashing on the boardwalk.
The Hard Rock is the former Trump Taj Mahal, and Ocean Resort is the former Revel.
They were two of the five Atlantic City casinos that had shut down since 2014. Together, they will restore about 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs that were lost in the shutdowns.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
