Don’t look now, but here comes even more sports betting at the Hard Rock Atlantic City! The casino received permission from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to begin so-called “soft-play” testing of equipment and systems for online sports betting, and did so last week. It is likely to be the last Atlantic City casino to join the sports book race. Hard Rock will be the eighth of the city’s nine casinos to offer sports betting. Caesars does not have it, but its customers are served by the sports book at its neighboring sister property, Bally’s. For more information…

It won’t be open for another month, but the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City already has booked its first guest. In gaming terms, it has hooked a whale. The William Hill company, the most prolific sportsbook in Vegas, will oversee the Ocean Resort’s sports gambling operations. The Ocean Resort is the former Revel Casino, at the north end of the AC boardwalk. Business is contingent, of course, on the New Jersey legislature’s approval of sports betting, which could come within the next week or so. The floodgates to that process were opened when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a…

The sale of the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal to Hard Rock International was just finalized, paving the way for the Atlantic City casino to reopen. The relaunch — after some extensive and much-needed renovations — will bring a new look and a new brand. Hard Rock detailed some of its plans for the property at a press conference. The changes will include a nearly $400 million facelift, with plans to reopen by the summer of 2018. Based on the early conceptual art, visitors accustomed to the Lego-esque look of the Trump Taj Mahal will be unlikely to recognize the property….

Players trash-talking, commentators breaking down each play and fans cheering. It’s not an Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field, but rather the Gears of War Pro Circuit Open at Caesars Atlantic City. The event, which concluded Sunday, is the first major esports event in the resort as it looks to take advantage of the rapidly growing $1 billion industry. “It’s like going to a football game,” said Seth Gentry, 23, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as he watched players play in the casino’s ballroom. The three-day video-game competition had a prize pool of $200,000, with $70,000 going to the winning team. “We…

TEN Casino, the former Revel, has been closed since September 2014, but property owner Glenn Straub has managed to keep it in the headlines. Straub is locked in a heated fight over licensing that has kept the property’s doors locked far longer than he would have liked. No resolution is in sight, but TEN did launch a social casino website, Play.TenACNJ.com. This could very well be the precursor to a real-money New Jersey online gambling site … if TEN ever reopens. New Jersey officials have rejected Straub’s requests to forego the licensing process. A bitter fight has ensued, complete with…

Atlantic City casinos posted their first annual gaming revenue gains in a decade, and the credit is primarily due to their online gambling operations. Figures released Thursday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s seven surviving casinos generated brick-and-mortar gaming revenue of $189.7m in December, a 6.8% gain over December 2015. Throw in the $18.4m generated by state-licensed online gambling sites and the year-on-year gain rises to 8.6%. If you compare only the revenue generated by the seven casinos that were open to the public in both Decembers, the year-on-year brick-and-mortar gain rises to 13.6%, while…