$75 Million Expansion Completed at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Recently a major expansion of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened in Tampa which made the gambling complex the 4^th largest in the US and the 6^th largest in the world.

The complex now includes more parking, slot machines, restaurants and much more. The Vice President of sales and marketing, Dough Hoppe, said that they will never say that they’re “done expanding”.

The new expansion cost $75 million and has added 32,000 additional square feet of gaming space bringing the total to 190,000 square feet. There are now just over 5,000 slot machines, over 5,000 parking spaces and a moving sidewalk which speeds up the journey to the gaming floor. While the number of poker tables hasn’t increased, the number of table games such as blackjack will grow from 94 to 110. Another popular move is the addition of a room with 71 slot machines for non-smokers.

Another major benefit of the expansion is the creation of jobs. Over 400 people have been recruited to fill positions in gaming, restaurants, hotel operations, maintenance and security. In total the casino employs over 3,500 people.

One issue is a lack of hotel rooms; the hotel only has 250 rooms. Several years ago casino executives were planning to build a 22-story hotel tower with 750 new rooms; however, those plans were put on hold when the tourism market dropped.

At present the casino brings in 20,000 players a day and up to 30,000 on a busy weekend. It is thought that 90% of visitors come from within a two-hour travel radius so an expansion on the number of hotel rooms would allow for visitors from a wider region.

Either way, based upon the number of seats where people can sit and gamble, The Seminole Hard Rock is now the sixth largest casino in the world and definitely an excellent gambling destination.