Upscale hotel operator Morgans Hotel Group Co. has agreed to buy the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for $770 million in cash from the property's founder and chairman, he said Thursday.

The sale of the 647-room hotel and 30,000 square-foot casino on 41 acres near the Las Vegas Strip will net Peter Morton more than $731 million, he said in a statement.

"It was just time to take the chips off the table," Morton told The Associated Press. "I'm looking to do some different things in my life. That was it."

Morton co-founded the Hard Rock brand in 1971, and in 1996 he sold his chain of Hard Rock Cafes to the London-based Rank Group PLC for $410 million.

Read more about the acquisition of Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas for $770 million at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_Hard_Rock_Casino.html.