talks to supermodel Christie Brinkley during the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa grand opening Oct. Hollywood Councilman Chris Osceola chats with actress Nicole Kidman while Chairman Marcellus W. We are very blessed to be able to provide for our people.” “They just hoped for education and good health. “Our ancestors couldn’t have imagined something like this,” said Chairman Osceola. HRI is the highest rated casino company in the world and its debt is rated investment grade by the three leading credit rating agencies, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Group. Without the Tribe, I’m not sure we would be here today.” In 2000, Hard Rock International was a challenged company. “That success happens because of the support of the Tribe and Tribal members. “It’s important to see the legacy the Tribe created by purchasing Hard Rock International,” Allen said. It was the first Native American tribe to purchase a major international corporation. The Tribe bought Hard Rock International in 2006. The $31 billion generated this year in Native American casinos surpasses all commercial gaming in the U.S. The Tampa casino is the leading earner of the Hard Rock brand with revenues of about $1 billion annually, according to Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming and Chairman of Hard Rock International. “This used to be a village what it has become is monumental.” “We started this $700 million and two years ago,” said Chairman Marcellus W. Seminole medicine man Bobby Henry, left, retired Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa President John Fontana, center, and the property’s current president Steve Bonner watch the grand opening of the Tampa expansion.

Tampa residents moved from the Tampa reservation in the early 1980s to make room for what would become the most successful casino in North America. Tribal leaders and Hard Rock executives also lent their voices to the day. “We started with a chickee and one alligator in a pen,” said President Mitchell Cypress.īefore the pyrotechnics and daredevil antics began, invited guests filled the Hard Rock Event Center for a performance by the hi-tech neon and LED dance group Light Balance. The hotel and casino is on the former Tampa reservation, a site which once held more modest structures. 4 with a sold-out concert by country superstar Keith Urban and a pool party Oct. 3 with a guitar smash, fireworks, celebrities and a thrilling high-wire act by Nik and Delilah Wallenda. The $700 million expansion was celebrated Oct. TAMPA - It wasn’t just any grand opening the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa went all out for the property’s Grand Celebration.

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