Posted on: September 25, 2023, 11:22h.
Last updated on: September 25, 2023, 11:23h.
Hard Rock Cincinnati has decided to end its cleaning and facilities maintenance contract, which it inherited when it acquired the operating rights to the former Jack Cincinnati Casino in 2019.
Hard Rock International acquired the former Jack property in 2019 through a partnership with Vici Properties. Vici owns the real estate and leases the operations to Hard Rock.
Hard Rock and Vici paid Jack Entertainment $745 million for the 22-acre property and casino structure, which is controlled by Rocket Mortgage billionaire Dan Gilbert. Gilbert also owns the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers.
Hard Rock rebranded the property as Hard Rock Cincinnati in October 2021 after facing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contract Terminated
After taking over the Cincinnati casino, Hard Rock decided not to renew several contracts that Jack Entertainment had in place. One of those contracts was with The Service Companies, a Florida-based company that provided cleaning, facility maintenance, and staffing services for the hospitality and gaming industries.
The Service Companies completed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filing on June 1, notifying the state of its plans to terminate approximately 70 positions due to the non-renewal of the Hard Rock Cincinnati contract.
We recently received notice that Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, as successor-in-interest to Jack Cincinnati Casino LLC (“Hard Rock”), has decided to terminate its Services Agreement with The Service Companies (“TSC”),” explained Amanda Sullivan, Senior Vice President of People at The Service Companies.
“The total number of affected employees is 70,” Sullivan said. “At this point, the termination is expected to be permanent.”
Hard Rock has not provided a comment on the termination or revealed its plans for cleaning and maintenance staff.
However, a search for available positions at Hard Rock Cincinnati on Casino.org yielded several facilities positions, such as maintenance workers, engineers, and groundskeepers.
Gaming Revenue Growth
Since taking over operations, Hard Rock has successfully increased the gross gaming revenue (GGR) at the Cincinnati casino.
Under Jack Entertainment, the casino reported approximately $207.6 million in GGR in 2019, with slots contributing $132.1 million. In the past year, Hard Rock Cincinnati has won nearly $251.5 million from gamblers, representing a 21% increase compared to 2019.
Hard Rock has introduced new slot terminals, which have been well-received by players. The casino’s 2022 gaming win was primarily driven by these slot machines, which kept more than $162.5 million of players’ wagers. Additionally, Hard Rock offered about $6 million more in promotional play compared to Jack in 2019.
Hard Rock Cincinnati is currently the only Hard Rock casino in Ohio. The company previously operated the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park near Cleveland until selling its operating rights to MGM Resorts in 2019.