The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa on May 1 officially became the third of the Seminole casinos in Florida to offer Las Vegas-style slot machines today.
The Tampa casino, which had quietly been phasing in the class III slots over the past week, had approximately 700 of them in operation for the ceremonial opening in addition to 2,600 of the older class II machines.
The class III machines, which were introduced earlier this spring at the Seminole Hard Rock casino in Hollywood and the Seminole Coconut Creek casino, let gamers play against the house unlike the class II bingo-style machines, where players compete against each other.
By the end of May, the Seminoles plan to have 1,674 class III slots in operation at the Tampa casino. The Seminole tribe has ordered 15,000 of the class III slots for its seven Florida casinos.
The Seminoles are also only weeks away from introducing the first table games -- blackjack and baccarat -- at some of their Florida casinos. The tribe has been hiring and training dealers for several weeks.
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