The Seminole Tribe of Florida announced plans for its second Hollywood hotel — and at the same time, it is lobbying to renew its existing gambling agreement with the state, which expires soon.
If renewed, the Seminoles will develop a 1,000-room, guitar-shaped hotel alongside its existing, 500-room Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, the Sun Sentinel confirmed with tribe representatives.
If the Seminole tribe were to add the hotel, it would bring the total room count to 1,500. As it stands, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach is the largest hotel in South Florida with 1,504 rooms. The Diplomat Resort & Spa Hollywood by Hilton, formerly the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa, has 998 rooms.
The tribe’s five-year gambling agreement expires July 21. The agreement includes a $1 billion payment to the state for exclusive rights to blackjack and other table games across Florida, and slot machine exclusivity outside of South Florida, the newspaper reported.
House Republican leader Dana Young filed a bill to bring up to two resort-hotel casinos to South Florida, which did not mention the tribe.
In 2011, Malaysia’s Genting Group announced plans for a $3 billion mixed-use casino project that would include two condo towers, four hotels, retail space and a convention center on the site of the former Miami Herald. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach has also supported gambling legislation. [Sun Sentinel] — Katherine Kallergis