Hard Rock Sportsbook Rebrands in Anticipation of Florida Relaunch

Posted on: July 20, 2023, 10:14h. 

Last updated on: July 20, 2023, 04:38h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Hard Rock Sportsbook is no more. But patrons need not fret, as the online sportsbook platform has simply undergone a rebranding.

Hard Rock Sportsbook Bet Florida Seminole Tribe
The sportsbook at Hard Rock Cincinnati. Hard Rock this week rebranded its online Hard Rock Sportsbook to Hard Rock Bet. The app is live in Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. (Image: Hard Rock International)

Hard Rock International, owned and operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, announced Wednesday that the Hard Rock Sportsbook has been renamed Hard Rock Bet. The online gaming platform is operational in Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The Hard Rock sports betting and iGaming app in New Jersey will be rebranded to Hard Rock Bet later this summer. New Jersey is one of only six states that allows iGaming with interactive slots and table games. The Garden State is the only iGaming jurisdiction where Hard Rock is licensed to conduct online gaming.

Hard Rock officials say the rebranding of its online sportsbook brings the digital gaming unit in line with the corporation’s overall brand. Hard Rock Bet features the conglomerate’s iconic guitar logo as the app’s icon.

To attract new players to the Hard Rock Bet sportsbook platform, Hard Rock is offering new signups a “no regret first bet” up to $200. If the $200 wager loses, those new accounts will be credited with the amount lost. The “bonus bet” credits must be wagered within seven days of issuance.

Court Delay

The Seminoles maintain a monopoly on slot machines outside of Miami-Dade and Broward counties in their home state of Florida. The tribe also holds exclusive rights to most house-banked table games.

In reworking their Class III compact with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in April 2021, the tribe additionally secured the rights to conduct sports betting on its sovereign lands and online. That’s so long as the Hard Rock sportsbook computer servers remain on tribal grounds.

A month after the tribe began taking online sports bets in the Sunshine State, an appeal was filed by Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Poker Room. The racino and pari-mutuel cardroom were sister companies at the time, owned and operated by West Flagler Associates. West Flagler has since sold Magic City.

In a November 2021 decision, federal judge Dabney Friedrich of Washington, DC’s district court sided with West Flagler on grounds that the Seminoles’ amended compact violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). Friedrich agreed that IGRA doesn’t allow for tribal gaming to occur off sovereign lands. However, attorneys for the Seminoles and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, which approved of the compact, said the requirement that the Hard Rock sportsbook platform’s computer servers remain on tribal lands satisfies IGRA interpretations.

Relaunch Could Come Soon

Friedrich’s ruling was overturned last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The three judges concluded that IGRA doesn’t specifically exclude a federally recognized tribe and its host state from reaching a deal to allow the tribal group to conduct casino gaming operations “outside Indian lands.”

Though the legal matter could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the June federal appellate court ruling, at least for now, clears the way for the Seminoles to relaunch their online sportsbook in Florida.