DWade, Estefans, star rappers launch sports betting, table games at Hard Rock Casino
Sports betting launched alongside the craps and roulette table games at the Seminole Tribe’s Hard Rock Casino Thursday afternoon in dramatic fashion. Rappers Fat Joe and Ja Rule walked up to place bets at the tables and were quickly joined by Dwyane Wade, Gloria and Emilio Estefan and rapper Rick Ross.
Fort Lauderdale entrepreneur Ron Mawrer was ecstatic about the casino’s new additions. Table games and sports betting were available Thursday for the first time. Mawrer, 56, looked on with excitement before going to get a wristband to attend a VIP pool party.
“The atmosphere is alive now,” he said, “It’s alive and well. You’ll hear yelling and screaming when people’s numbers come in. This is a breath of fresh air.”
After the table games launched to the delight of patrons, the first sports bet was placed nearby at the casino’s sports book. Boxing legend Mike Tyson smiled for pictures as casino employees waited at the sports book’s eight betting stations for guests eager to place bets. While the digital sports book had a soft opening Tuesday, the in-person sports book opened Thursday.
Hard Rock International CEO Jim Allen saw the day as an opportunity to further celebrate the Seminole Tribe. As the hundreds of customers circulated around the tables, members of the Seminole Nation sat in a VIP section directly in front of the tables.
According to Allen, the revenue share between Hard Rock and the Seminole Tribe pays $650 million a year to the state of Florida. The compact the tribe signed with the state three years ago guaranteed a minimum of $500 million annually. He said he believes the table games at Seminole Hard Rock will build stronger connections between South Florida and communities throughout the Americas.
“One of the great things about roulette and craps is they’re games that are very unique to certain cultures, specifically roulette,” he said. “People from Central and South America absolutely love the game, so that gives us the ability to promote more tourism in places like Brazil and other great countries like that.”
Those popular forms of gambling join blackjack, poker and slot machines, which were already offered at the tribe’s casinos.
Professional sports gambler and podcaster Raheem Palmer said he believes sports gambling’s legalization is a key reason for its current acceptance. With sports gambling now legal in most states and nowFlorida, people interested in gambling can seek legal options like Seminole Hard Rock in lieu of illegal bookies or placing a bet offshore.
Palmer is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and builds statistical models to assist in his betting. While his strategy is inventive, he emphasized that it is not perfect and still believes in the importance of watching games and doing research.
“The thing with betting with a local bookie, you’re betting with credit and betting with money you don’t have,” he said. “Once sports betting got legalized nationwide, you have DraftKings and ESPN sports betting. It’s become the lottery for people. It’s the new lottery.”
As celebrities walked through the casino, people surrounded the craps and roulette tables as if money was going to fall from the bright lights hanging overhead. With the sports betting additions, South Florida suddenly felt like Las Vegas.
This story was updated Friday, December 8, 2023, to say that blackjack and poker were already offered at the Seminole Tribe’s casinos and that roulette and craps were new in addition to in-person sports wagering.
