Hard Rock plots sportsbook revamp ahead of in-house migration

Hard Rock Digital has transitioned its Hard Rock Sportsbook to a new brand identity, Hard Rock Bet, as part of a transition of its online offering to in-house proprietary technology.

New Hard Rock Bet branding will feature on the casino resort operator’s online sportsbook in Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The new branding carries a nod to Hard Rock’s land-based casino empire in that it features the Hard Rock guitar logo, found on many of its US-based casinos.

The rebranding will also include a new loyalty program for Hard Rock Digital customers.

“Hard Rock Bet will continue to introduce new features ahead of the debut of the integrated online casino and sportsbook experience in New Jersey later this summer,” the firm said in a press release.

Speaking to EGR North America, Hard Rock Digital executive MD and president Matt Primeaux said: “The move from Hard Rock Sportsbook to Hard Rock Bet is in anticipation of our in-house product migration in New Jersey wherein we’ll be operating both sportsbook and casino. We decided to simplify naming convention with Bet instead of Casino and Sportsbook.”

The migration includes the launch of an igaming offering, Hard Rock’s first and in conjunction with Playtech, which invested $85m into the business earlier this year as part of a strategic partnership.

Hard Rock has access to license Playtech technology and igaming content across the firm’s land-based and online platforms both in the US and internationally, working under a revenue sharing basis.

Services available include Playtech’s information management solution (IMS), player management platform and certain ancillary services including operational, customer support, payment advisory, and marketing services.

Hard Rock will soon be able to relaunch its Hard Rock Bet offering in Florida following the victory of its owners, the Seminole Tribe, over a pair of Florida-based parimutuel operators in a legal case concerning the validity of the tribe’s 30-year tribal gaming compact with the state.

Hard Rock was forced to discontinue operations in the state in November 2021 after a judge ordered the vacation of the 30-year compact on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and breached both the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and Wire Act.

Under IGRA, while a state may enter a compact with any tribe to operate gambling, it must occur on Indian land, defined as “all lands within the limits of any Indian reservation” or lands held in trust by the US for the benefit of said tribe.

The ‘hub and spoke’ model, envisioned under the tribes compact with the state allows the tribe to circumvent this law, as all sportsbook transactions although placed remotely anywhere in the state would still be funnelled through servers located on Indian lands.

Since the enforced closure, the Seminole Tribe and the US Department of the Interior have been locked in a legal dispute with the parimutuels, a dispute that seemingly ended last month when the US Court of Appeals backed the Seminole Tribe.

With the compact seemingly back to legality, Hard Rock could look to relaunch its operations in Florida as early as August.