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The Seminole Tribe of Florida is on a heater right now — and its success is crossing over to other states, not just the Sunshine State. The latest win is the overhaul of the Mirage Las Vegas into the Hard Rock Vegas. It’s a move that can embolden the tribe’s sports betting platform, making it one of the leaders in the highly competitive industry. Allow us to explain:
Seminole Tribe Continues To Take Risks
The Seminoles closed a deal for the Hard Rock International in 2007. At the time, it was a bold move. The $965 million purchase was one of the largest acquisitions by a Native American tribe. Seminoles doubled down on gaming — which was generating 90 percent of its revenue during the period — at a time when others were scaling back.
As of today, the Hard Rock operates 10 casinos in nine different states. The properties are as follows:
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City – Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi – Biloxi, Mississippi
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood – Hollywood, Florida
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa – Tampa, Florida
- Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati – Cincinnati, Ohio
- Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana – Gary, Indiana
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento – Wheatland, California
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City – Sioux City, Iowa
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa – Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Hard Rock Casino Rockford – Rockford, Illinois
- Hard Rock Casino Bristol – Bristol, Virginia
An 11th is expected to join the fray in 2027 — the Hard Rock Hotel & Casio Las Vegas. And this one might be the most ambitious yet.
This property is replacing The Mirage Las Vegas, which officially closed up shop on July 17. According to Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen work on the new Hard Rock would “literally start tomorrow” so Allen and crew aren’t wasting any time in joining The Strip. It will be the first and only Native American tribe operating in the competitive Las Vegas Boulevard street.
Hard Rock has a lot of work to do from now and the planned 2027 open date. For one, it’ll be remodeling the existing property from top to bottom. The Mirage once set the tone for luxury on the Strip, but those days had been long gone. Many rooms still feature bathrooms with the old tub-shower combo and carpet that screams early ‘2000s. All of that will be gutted.
Moreover, Hard Rock will be adding a brand new tower, which will be guitar-shaped. This tower will sit where the Mirage’s iconic erupting volcano long sat — and will add 600 new rooms to the property. Hard Rock has said its Las Vegas remodel will be based on its highly successful Guitar Hotel at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in South Florida.
The move was multiple years in the making. Hard Rock purchased the Mirage from MGM International for just under $1.1 billion back in 2022. It had a three-year licensing agreement to continue operating the property under the ‘ol Mirage name before its renovation and rebranding. Welp, that time is up and Hard Rock is moving quickly.
These massive changes have the potential to affect Florida bettors too though. Allow us to explain how:
Hard Rock Bet App Will Benefit From Expansion
Unlike other tribes that partnered with commercial operators to run their sportsbooks, the Seminoles did it themselves. The tribe uses its own proprietary Hard Rock Bet app to operate sports betting. As it stands, the mobile betting app only works in states where they have a casino AND legalized sports betting is a thing — Arizona, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Nevada will join the fray once the Las Vegas property gets up and running. Here’s the thing though: Nevada has one of the biggest sports-betting markets in the country behind only the likes of New York and a few other states. If you want to compete in the Silver State, you better have a top-notch product.
For this reason, we anticipate the Seminoles to invest even more into the Hard Rock Bet platform. It’s already a good offering, but not quite at the level of competitors like BetMGM or DraftKings. Given the amount of money the Seminoles are pouring into Las Vegas, it only makes sense they’ll better the existing products to complement the launch.
Adding to the momentum is a recent Supreme Court decision. In June, the highest courts refused to hear a case from West Flagler Associates in Florida. They argued the Seminoles’ monopoly on sports betting in Florida was against the law.
The Seminoles struck an exclusive compact with governor Ron DeSantis to offer sports betting in three Sunshine State. Betting can only be done on tribal land, which was at the heart of the case.
No need rehash the details though since the Supreme Court passed it over, effectively keeping everything in place. The Seminoles compact runs until 2051 so they are in the driver’s seat for legal sports betting in one of the world’s biggest economies. No way they are going to fumble that, which is why we expect consistent improvements to the Hard Rock Bet app from now til 2027.
