The casino rich Seminole Tribe of Florida has purchased the outstanding rights to Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, giving them global ownership of the famed brand.
The tribe is now exclusively entitled through Hard Rock International, based in Orlando, Florida, to develop, own, license, franchise and manage Hard Rock casinos, hotels and restaurants worldwide, a growing portfolio consisting of 27 hotels and 15 casinos along with 168 Hard Rock Cafes, among other branded venues, in more than 71 countries.
Excluded from the deal is the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, which remains under the control of BREF HR.
The Western U.S. and international properties included in the deal were separated from Hard Rock International’s portfolio more than 30 years ago, when the two founders of the company, Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett, split up the empire. The tribe has partially owned the brand since 2007, when it paid $965 million for Hard Rock International. The tribe’s two main operations are Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, Florida.
No purchase price for the rest of the brand was disclosed.
“The questions of who controls what, that confusion has now been eliminated, and, more importantly, it gives us more ability to enhance customer service and brand standards on a more consistent level globally,” said Jim Allen, Hard Rock International’s chairman. “If we wanted to unify, say, our players’ club card, there were locations in Oklahoma, Sioux City, Vancouver, Lake Tahoe (and others) that weren’t under our standards and were free to do whatever they like.”
But equally important, Allen said, is what he called “unprecedented growth opportunities.”
“It also allows us in places like Australia and Brazil to expand the Hard Rock brand in a gaming environment,” he said. “Now if there’s a casino opportunity in California, or obviously in Brazil, it certainly allows us expansion.”
He also cited hotels in Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Berlin and Dubai as possible locations.
A spokeswoman said the company currently has more than 20 active projects in the pipeline, with a goal of reaching 100 hotels by 2020.
“The tribe has always looked at the ownership of Hard Rock from a viewpoint of growing the value of the company and the brand. It’s more of a long-term strategic financial planning investment,” Allen said.
That announcement followed by days news of the tribe’s ouster of its longtime Chairman James E. Billie, who was removed by a 4-0 vote of the Seminole Tribal Council for “various issues with policies and procedures of the chairman’s office,” the tribe said in a statement.
“The tribe considers this an internal matter and is not going to be more specific or elaborate beyond what was said,” a spokesman told tampabay.com.
Billie served as chairman from 1979 to 2001?the “longest tenure of any elected leader in the Western Hemisphere, other than Fidel Castro,” reported the Miami Herald?and again from 2010 to the end of September 2016. Billie, whose exploits as an alligator wrestler in his youth were the subject of a documentary film, was a seminal figure in the establishment of tribal gaming rights and oversaw the Seminoles’ growth from a bingo operator to a national casino powerhouse.
In defense of that power the tribe currently is enmeshed in three major lawsuits tied to the expiration of its federally mandated gaming compact with the state of Florida, and with it the tribe’s sole right to offer blackjack and other table games in the state. A proposed compact backed by Governor Rick Scott died in the last session of the legislature. The Seminoles say the state has not negotiated in good faith to secure a new one.
State officials, for their part, want a federal judge to order the tribe to remove the blackjack tables that are still in use in its two casinos. Allen has said that nearly 3,700 jobs would be lost if blackjack is removed.
The other court cases are being fought over whether racetrack poker rooms can offer “designated player” games such as Three-Card Poker, which the tribe is fighting in federal court to defeat, and whether a northwest Florida county can host slot machines.
