Hard Rock International has venues in more than 70 countries spanning 290 locations. In 2020, Hard rock International launched a joint venture called Hard Rock Digital, which is an online sportsbook, retail sportsbook and internet gaming platform.
The brand also owns the world’s largest and most valuable collection of authentic music memorabilia with more than 87,000 pieces, which are displayed at its locations around the world.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired the Hard Rock brand in 2007. Along with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida is one of three federally recognized Seminole tribes in the US. In the 1970s, the tribe established a bingo operation that became the first tribal gaming operations in the US.
The tribe’s bingo hall survived legal challenges from the state of Florida over whether the tribe had the right to be in the gambling business. Those legal victories led to other casinos on tribal reservations in Florida and opened the door for tribal gaming across the US.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida rode that wave, amassing wealth and power for decades until it had built up enough to purchase the Hard Rock brand for nearly $1 billion.
That marked a major transition for the brand, which began in London in 1971 with the opening of the first Hard Rock Café by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, two Americans who established the restaurant largely because they just wanted to find a good American burger while living overseas.
The first US café was opened in 1982 in Los Angeles, then expanded to Asia in 1983.
Hard Rock opened its first Hard Rock Live concert venue in Mexico City in 1994. The brand entered the gaming business the following year, in 1995, with the opening of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, just off the Las Vegas Strip. The iconic hotel sported a large, neon guitar outside its front door.
Hard Rock now operates dozens of hotels and casinos, including its news Panama Megapolis location and all-inclusive resorts in Cancun and Vallarta, Mexico.
Hard Rock also has casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Biloxi, Mississippi; Cincinnati, Ohio; Deadwood, South Dakota; Hollywood, Florida; Stateline, Nevada near Lake Tahoe; Gary, Indiana; Rockford, Illinois; Wheatland, California; Sioux City, Iowa; Tampa, Florida; Catoosa, Oklahoma; Vancouver, Canada; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and new locations coming soon in Bristol, Virginia and Ottawa, Canada.
Hard Rock International purchased the Mirage Las Vegas casino on the Las Vegas Strip for $1.1 billion in December 2022. That iconic property is expected to be rebranded as a Hard Rock location with a guitar-shaped hotel tower adjacent to the property in the not-so-distant future. The Mirage, as currently configured, has 3,044 rooms.
Dr Anthony Lucas, Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, speaks to Tim Poole on the Huddle about the paper he released this year on the limitations of free play within land-based casinos. He does, however, understand why gaming executives may not jump to embrace his ideas. We discuss:
Greentube's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Games Officer, Michael Bauer, joins Tim Poole on the Huddle to discuss all things Greentube and all things North America.
