Bills Mafia infiltrated the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino last weekend, painting the casino with a hue of royal blue and red before a critical showdown against the Miami Dolphins.
Inside a glitzy South Florida sports bar adorned with a giant wall of large-screen TVs, Bills fans gleefully wagered on the Steelers-Ravens matchup and other sports events on the Saturday slate. One Bills er who donned a custom-made “Juice 32” jersey in homage to O.J. Simpson has already booked a trip to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl.
The month after the relaunch in Florida of New York to attend the matchup at Hard Rock Stadium, and throngs of them spent hours beforehand at the namesake casino on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Wagering from out-of-state tourists represents just a sliver of overall sportsbook handle. Hard Rock Bet maintains a monopoly on both retail and online sports betting across the state, and the volume of activity not only exceeded the company’s expectations, it has been “humongous,” a Hard Rock executive told Sports Handle on the condition of anonymity.
The opening month figures have not, however, been publicly available. The tribe has not officially released December sports betting figures for the relaunch of its sports betting platform in Florida. Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen, meanwhile, did not attend a prominent conference of state gaming legislators last week in Fort Lauderdale.
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Any way you slice it, the sports betting handle in Florida should be robust on a comparative basis due to the size of the state.
New York ended 2023 sports betting revenue itself for the Seminoles.
In recent months, wagering activity on the NFL has made up about 30-35% of the $2 billion in monthly handle in New York. There’s little reason to expect Florida to be different, and an uptick would also be expected for games this weekend featuring two teams from within the state, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins.
For comparison purposes of initial wagering totals, FanDuel, has recorded at least $500 million in handle in seven of 28 months.
While the Hard Rock executive has not kept a close eye on other states, he believes that Hard Rock’s first month in Florida was “substantially higher” than the top books in New York, as it is the “only game in town.” The executive pointed to anecdotes of large wagers among VIP customers and certain pockets of in-game wagers to buttress his point.
Allen has himself been bullish on the enormity of legal sports wagering in the Sunshine State. Speaking with CNBC last month, Allen referred to it being “certainly possible” for Hard Rock’s Florida platform to handle more in sports wagers than all of New York’s nine digital sportsbooks combined.
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In November, Hard Rock began conducting a soft launch of digital sports wagering, days after the company announced plans to launch retail sports betting during the final month of 2023. On Dec. 7, the day of the official retail launch, customers placed more than 700,000 sports wagers over a 10-hour period, CNBC reported.
Last week, a large contingent of gaming officials converged upon South Florida for the National Council of Legislators From Gaming States 2024 winter conference. A bevy of Florida regulators appeared at the conference, including Louis Trombetta, executive director at the state’s gaming commission, and Julie Brown, the commission’s vice chair.
Vice Chair @JulieBrown_Fla took center stage as she delivered the keynote address for day one of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States @NCLGS winter conference, leaving attendees captivated. #FLGaming #NCLGS pic.twitter.com/kyWrcyld1l
— Florida Gaming Control Commission (@FLGamingControl) January 5, 2024
“There is a fervor, the sentiment is that people are happy — in general, customers are happy with the legal ability to make wagers on sports,” Brown told Sports Handle on the sidelines of the conference.
With thousands of bets placed daily in Florida, it is reasonable to expect an occasional quibble by a customer on social media. Although the commission has a portal for monitoring customer complaints, Brown did not observe a single one related to sports wagering as of Jan. 4, she noted in the interview.
Hard Rock executive Andre Gowens spoke on a last Saturday on the impact of artificial intelligence in the gambling space. There, Gowens touted Hard Rock’s ability to engage with bettors through personalized offers.
This weekend, for instance, Hard Rock is offering a prop on Tyreek Hill to score two touchdowns in the game versus the Chiefs at +700. Across the industry, personalization is gaining momentum, as customers with a proclivity for betting on players such as Hill may receive better odds on various props as a reward for their loyalty. For the Super Bowl, there is a strong likelihood that Hard Rock will send personalized alerts to customers with certain enticements through boosted bets, Gowens noted.
When it comes to financial reporting, public companies such as Caesars Entertainment are required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to report quarterly revenues, Hard Rock, though, is subject to a different set of regulatory standards as a private company. The Florida Gaming Commission has the authority to conduct quarterly audits of Hard Rock, a regulatory source told Sports Handle at last week’s conference.
However, it does not appear that the Florida commission has a statutory mandate to release sports betting wagering figures to the public. North of the U.S. border, iGaming Ontario created some consternation among stakeholders by reporting sports betting market results on a quarterly, not monthly basis. Issues related to public reporting could be broached in the Florida legislative session beginning March 8. As a public entity, the commission’s documents are available for viewing by Florida residents, with the exception of those deemed confidential or proprietary.
Could Florida’s Hard Rock Bet to see more handle than all of New York’s sportsbooks combined? Jim Allen thinks so. Click on the image for Jill Dorson's story.https://t.co/uKsfs2i3J4
— Sports Handle (@sports_handle) December 11, 2023
The Seminole Tribe, which owns Hard Rock Bet, entered into a revenue share agreement with the state of Florida as part of a historic 2021 compact that remains under legal challenge in state and federal courts. Under the agreement, the tribe will pay the state $2.5 billion over five years, as well as a revenue share of 13.8%.
Asked whether Hard Rock’s numbers from sports betting could be made available to the public each month, as is common in states where commercial operators are regulated, Brown responded that integrity is an integral issue for the Seminole Tribe, one that the tribe is continually trying to reinforce.
Without answering directly about the potential reporting, she said, “I know transparency is a big issue for gaming in general, and as a state entity we want to ensure responsible gaming, but also transparency.”
Chris Altruda contributed to this story
