By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford Casino took in a record $5.1 million last month as it welcomed more guests than any time since its first month in business.

There were 39,579 admissions to the casino at 610 N. Bell School Road in April. That’s the most since 41,637 entered its doors in the first 22 days in business in November.

The casino’s $5,146,842 in gross revenue in April is the most in its six months of operation.

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Tax revenue from the casino has now raised a total of nearly $1.48 million for the city of Rockford, which is putting the first $1.5 million of that money toward the Rockford Promise program each year. An money beyond that amount has not yet been allocated.

Related: ‘Your city cares about you’: Rockford Promise has record number of free tuition scholars

Rockford Promise provides full tuition scholarships to qualified Rockford Public Schools graduates. To qualify, students must live inside the city, attend a Rockford Public School for all four years of high school and graduate with a cumulative 3.0 grade point average.

Hard Rock, meanwhile, is working toward breaking ground on its full casino resort at the intersection of Interstate 90 and East State Street later this summer. It has previously planned to break ground in spring but now shifted the scope of its project. A 250-room hotel that was initially planned for a second phase of construction will now be a part of the project from the start, the Rockford Register Star reported. It would be the largest hotel by number of rooms in the city.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.