The chairman of Hard Rock International sees value in having the best sportsbook brands in the Florida sports betting market.
Jim Allen mentioned the positives to Hard Rock partnering with DraftKings and FanDuel, and bringing the brands into Florida in an interview with CNBC’s Contessa Brewer at G2E Wednesday.
“We do recognize that long-term, some type of strategic relationship with some of the brands that really have marquee value could be helpful to both of us, and we are receptive to those conversations,” he said.
Allen mentioned he spoke with both DraftKings and FanDuel, noting a “great relationship” with the two. Both companies declined to comment on Florida sports betting.
Florida sports betting a monopoly …
The Seminole Tribe’s‘ Hard Rock Bet is the only sportsbook in Florida after a lengthy court battle. That ramped up after FanDuel and DraftKings backed a failed push to get mobile sports betting added to Florida’s ballot in 2021, an effort a Seminole spokesperson called a “political Hail Mary.”
Florida sports betting launched in November 2021 after the state and the Seminole agreed to a new 30-year compact including statewide exclusive mobile sports betting. It shut down about a month later after the exclusivity was challenged in court.
Hard Rock Bet returned two years later in November 2023 after the state Supreme Court declined a stay while the case played out. It was eventually pushed all the way to the US Supreme Court, though it declined to hear the case in June.
That shored up Hard Rock Bet’s exclusive mobile sports betting operations through 2051.
… but Seminole can partner
The 2021 compact allows the Seminole Indians to partner with other brands in return for a cut of the revenue.
Allen told the Naples News in December 2023 he was talking to 16 of the state’s 32 pari-mutuel operators concerning sports betting revenue sharing. The compact dictates the Seminole would keep 40% of revenue, while the marketing partner would keep 60%.
Allen told LSR in April that discussions concerning a revenue-sharing framework with other operators were premature without knowing the final court outcome, but that it was certainly a possibility.
“I don’t think we’ve ever stated that we wouldn’t work with some of the other companies, whether it be Caesars, BetMGM, DraftKings or FanDuel. We’ve always stated that we’d be receptive to that conversation,” Allen said.