Trip Report Hard Rock Rockford

About 90 minutes from Chicago, sits the nearly all new Hard Rock Casino. There has been a Hard Rock invasion lately around here. As Gary Indiana got one too. And much like the one in Gary, this Hard Rock doesn't have a hotel. Well, not yet anywhere. As there are plans for a hotel in phase 2. I guess they just need to make the casino pay for it first.

It is a decent size casino, at 64,000 square feet. They boast 1,300 slot machines, 50 live table games including a poker room, and a sportsbook. And even though it is Tribal owned. They do fall under Illinois laws for gaming and profit sharing. And Illinois law typically forces these casinos to fuck players. As they take a huge slice of the action. But we shall see. 

First impressions, not bad! You can tell the place is brand new. As of this writing, June 30th 2025. The joint isn't even a year old yet. Smallish, as Illinois caps how many gaming positions are allowed. But they used the space well to make it feel a bit bigger.

I'm coming here with $500 on me. Pittance compared to what I normally take to gamble with. The primary reason for even making the drive, is to see the "Terry Bradshaw show" with my Dad and Brother. We will just be gambling to kill time. And well, where better to kill time than at a Casino?

The first game I played is Luxury Line here. $3.75 bet for a $308 win. I had my $100 bill all the way down to a nickle left before it hit. I got two trains. One was only good for $50. But the other train repeated that win six times, for the $300. Not bad!

Still killing time until the crew gets here. And nursing my bankroll some. We have 6 hours until the show starts, and I don't want to burn my cash too fast. But I did cheat myself out of a decent win above. $75 on $2.50 is a good win. But would have been better if I was betting $10 like a grownup. 

This Hard Rock is not linked to the other Hard Rock's. I was able to card match in Atlantic City a few months back. But here, I am a no one. But being new got me a free shirt and $10 in free play. And if I earn at least 250 tier credits, I'd get a $25 gas card to some gas station in rural fuck Illinois I never heard of before. So at least I have a goal. 

Another bitch bet that would have been a great win. But I will take it! $4.00 for $626. I didn't screw myself too hard. As about $500 of that was from the Major progressive. That would have been the same even if I was betting more. Two big hits in about an hour. Not too shabby. 

I was just cashing out the above win, when the boys walked in the door. That $165 got me to being up about $500ish here already. 

Dad took a piss, got his card and T-Shirt and immediately started playing. A junkie needs his fix after all! 

I doinked off a few hundred of my winnings playing around. Before landing this $111 win above. 

Typical crowds for a cow town in the middle of nowhere. Lots of old white people and farmers. As expected. 

After the above two wins, I was back to my high water mark for the day. $190 + $150 pushed me back over the up $500 mark. 

And then I went on tilt in High Limit. Shit assortment of games. And even when I was winning, like a $9.00 bet bonus wheel spin on Monopoly. I only "won" $55. I dropped about $400 in here, and it didn't take long to do that either. 

I was about even for the day, when I landed a bit of a shit bonus on Pinball. $195 on a $10 bet. And that is with landing 2 extra balls as it played out. Still, not losing is great!

Early dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Which seems like a bit of an after thought, as its just tables set up in an open space. Not an actual place to eat. It felt more like a cafeteria than a cafe.

But this might be foresight, as they still have plans to build the hotel tower. And I assume an actual Cafe will open in there. And this space will just be flipped in to the bar it surrounds. 

While Dad slays Dean Martin for Hundreds of Dollars. I was bleeding out. I only had a few hundred bucks left by the time I landed this bonus for $150.

But then I kicked it in high gear! Nursing the last of my money, and still a good 2 hours until showtime. I settled in on this game I have never seen before. Flipping my bets between $2.50 and max bet of $5.00. I landed a line hit of $154. A bonus for $288. And a final bonus for $268. I left this machine up $600!

Strike that, up $700! $255 on this same game I got a handy on at Four Winds a few weeks back. I cashed out my $800 TITO, and I was back in business. $154 here and $182 there. I was doing well until I wasn't. 

Shit went cold after all that. No clue what it takes to earn a tier point here. And neither did the casino cage! They told me to check the site, and it doesn't say anything there either. I ended up with about 700 of them. Which had to be good for $7,000 coin in. Which it cost me about $300 to do. Big shit. That is a solid day of gambling IMO.

The Terry Bradshaw show was a bit confusing. Their site said it started at 6:30. But that was when the doors to the venue opened. OK, so it starts at 7PM? No stupid, that is when the doors to the showroom open. The show itself didn't start until just after 8PM. 

Will I come back to HR Rockford? Sure, if they had a hotel. I cant drive 3 hours round trip to play anywhere. The juice is not worth the squeeze. Would I go see the Terry Bradshaw show again? No, not at all. I like TB12. That's why we paid to see this. But the show itself was a mess. No wonder they didn't want people taking pictures or recording it. 

It turns out, the vast majority of the show was him singing country songs.  In between songs he had this weird shtick where he just exaggerated his “tour” and made up numbers about how successful the “band” is.  He claimed to have just gotten back from a highly successful European tour where he performed at Buckingham Palace, the Vatican etc and had crowds of up to 350,000 people to see them.  

He said the Pope loved the Steelers and some black lady in back got furious and started shouting about how he’s from Chicago and Bradshaw is a liar! 

When it finally got to the Q&A portion, we were treated to such amazing questions as: “I’m a Bucs fan, what do you think is Bakers ceiling and floor?”, “I’m a Packers fan, what do you think about Jordan Love?” “I don’t have a question but you were my Dads favorite player, so I love you” “Do you know the saying ‘win one for the Gipper’? Do you want your picture taking with the Gipper?” (dudes last name was Gipper) and “Can you sign my jersey?”.  We left after about 50 minutes. 

It was fun hanging out with the crew. But the TB show was anything but.