HEADLINES
	2003 Shareholders Meeting
	Honesty And Integrity
	A Moment In Time With Henry John Billie
	Unveiling Of Dorothy Scott Osceola Portrait
Get the ENTIRE Seminole Tribune today!

Honesty and Integrity

The second in a series about the Tribe's new Hard Rock projects
By Elrod Bowers
In addition to the hiring of Edward Jenkins as Director of Gaming-Compliance and Regulations, the Tribal Council hired veteran casino executive Jim Allen to become the Executive Operating Officer of the Seminole Tribe's Gaming Operations.
Allen, who reports to the Tribal Council, brings 24 years of gaming experience to the Tribe. Allen has held executive positions with Sun International, the Trump Organization, Hilton Hotels, Park Place Entertainment and Hemmeter, and supervised the openings of the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
"I was first introduced to the tribe by a mutual friend who's in the gaming business and he told me about gaming in Florida, which I didn't even realized even existed," said Allen. "So I came over and looked at the Hollywood operation."
"I initially met the Seminole Tribe back when I was with the Trump Organization and I believe the Tribe had conversations with Donald Trump about possibly getting involved in their gaming operations. I was just Vice President of Operations and I just met some of the individuals that came up to the casinos in Atlantic City back in 1993."
Since his hiring, Allen has had one goal in mind for the Seminole Gaming, integrity. "That was one of the biggest things that we represented to the bondholders when we sold the first round of bonds: integrity and honesty," said Allen, "There is a 100% commitment from the Tribal Council and myself to make sure that we have integrity and honesty in the gaming operations."
" Things like the vendor registration program and bringing in Gaming Laboratories, Inc. to test the machines. I am also licensed in five different jurisdictions, key licensed, so my background has been checked by five different gaming boards for the last 23 years and everyone on the Hard Rock team has the same type of background."
To help with the Hard Rock projects, as well as overhaul and standardize operations at the tribe's five existing casinos, Allen hired Brad Buchanan, Senior Financial Officer; Kathleen L. Rybar, Senior Human Resources Officer; Lyle Bell, Senior Information Technology Officer; Thomas W. Sparks, Senior Officer for Security, Transportation and Administration; Charles Lombardo, Senior Gaming Officer; and Jeanine Repa, Marketing Officer.
" No one on the management team has less than 20 years experience in the gaming business and all have worked in the major markets, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Connecticut, etc." said Allen. "They've all been key licensed, their backgrounds checked to the utmost degree."
"More importantly, everybody has been through an opening, and one of the criteria that I set out was that, to open a casino, we want to make sure that we don't select a system, or have someone in a position, that hasn't been successful in a similar opening environment. The amount of work and hours is tremendous."
Allen's biggest challenge has been not only coordinating the Hard Rock projects, but also overseeing the Tribe's five existing casinos as well. "The biggest challenge is time," said Allen, " I wish I had more time to give to the existing operations, which sometimes becomes difficult."
" To build one casino is a tremendous task, but to do two simultaneously, and one of them will have an accelerated opening so that we can knock down the old one, I honestly don't think that people realize how big of a challenge we have taken on."
" I wish I had the time to spend with, say the GM in Immokalee or Brighton, but we make sure we still do budget review every month and that somebody gets to those properties once a month."
Upon his arrival, Allen began to see how big of a job it would be to restructure Seminole Gaming.
" I think that the first thing is that when I initially got involved with the Tribe on the gaming side it was obvious to me that through the years of different management companies there was a lot of different philosophies on how to do things," said Allen, "the Tribe ran some of the operations, management companies ran some of the other ones."
" It appeared that there was no standardization of the fundamentals that you would normally have in any company, and obviously in a gaming operation: financial procedures, human resources procedures, personnel procedures."
At press time, Allen expected the standardization of all job descriptions, minimum requirements and pay rates to be completed within a matter of days. When they are done, the information will be printed and distributed to the Tribal members and employees.
However, right now, Allen's time is taken up by the massive demands of the Hard Rock project.
" It's actually very unique, because if I was just hired to run the existing five facilities, that would really be the major task: to try to standardize and become more automated and lot of those different things as soon as possible," said Allen.
" That is one of my goals, but, more importantly, I was really hired for the Hard Rock projects, which is the project that is the future of the tribe, at least the gaming side of the business. My responsibilities are to represent the tribe with the designers, the developer, to make sure the buildings are constructed according to the standards that we set out, which was a four-star, four-diamond facility.
" That's a continual challenge on daily basis, when building facilities this large, it's not like you just design it once, it's every single day, literally 100's of items come up where there's questions that you have to follow up on. We have to do that within a budget, so the financial side of it is also a responsibility.
" Then, the other part is the whole operations side. We have to get our existing employees trained and add the additional employees necessary to operate the gaming side of the facilities. Then, we have to create the whole new area, department if you will, for hotel operations, beverage operations, pools, retail."
According to Allen, one of the important new areas was engineering. Unlike the old facilities, the new facilities are designed to be completely stand-alone facilities that can withstand 150 mile per hour winds. Other features include the redundant power feeds into the property.
" So if we lose power on one line, we have it on another, and if both fail we have a whole generator system.
" The complexity of just operating a facility like this is obviously much different than what we have today, and there's also hotel operations, front desk and housekeeping, the employee cafeteria, food courts, health spas.
" So obviously a major portion is to take advantage of the job that we've done with our existing employees but also expand that to the next level and find additional people to fill all those other positions that we're going to need in order to staff the facilities." Allen expects to have about 3,000 employees in the Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock Resort and Casino.
There are planned job fairs, so everyone will have an opportunity to work at the Hard Rock. Allen has also agreed with the Tribal Council that Tribal members who meet the minimum requirements will automatically get the position.
"It gives us the ability to help the Tribal members learn more about the gaming business," said Allen, "and hopefully, someday, somebody takes my job."
Allen started a similar program at the Mohegan Sun and, "it was very successful there, and there are a lot of Tribal members in management positions," said Allen.
Allen stressed that all current Hollywood Casino employees will have the chance to work at the Hard Rock. In fact, he can't afford to overlook the approximately 900 current employees when he takes on the task of filling the 3,000 planned jobs.
"It won't be easy, it'll be very difficult," said Allen, "but when we did the Mohegan Sun, we hired close to 7,000 employees. There's not a lot of hospitality and entertainment opportunities in New England, it's really a defense area. South Florida at least has a lot of restaurants and hotels."
"In Atlantis, we hired close to 9,000 employees on an island that only has 280,000 people in the whole country. That was very difficult, but we found them and trained them. At the Taj Mahal, we hired over 5,000 employees, this was in 1990, and we actually brought people in from as far as Ireland.
"Our goal is to hire Tribal members first, then the existing employees and that's what we're going to do. We're going to try to fill as many positions internally before we go outside."
When the Hard Rock projects were first announced, rumors persisted that the Hollywood Casino employees were not going to have the opportunities to work at the resort.
"Here's what I have said officially, and I have had meetings with all employees," said Allen, "Every existing employee has the opportunity to work in the Hard Rock project."
"When we had the employee meeting, I asked the question: Does anybody in the room want to work with somebody who is not friendly, does not come to work, does not care about their fellow employees, or does not respect the Tribe? The answer, overwhelmingly, was no, they do not."
Allen then announced that the slate was wiped clean for any employees who had a questionable work ethic prior to the employee meeting. However, since that time, "if we have an employee that applies for the new Hard Rock job that has all kinds of write-ups in their file for mean or rude customer service, has been caught hurting or destroying Seminole property, bad attendance, or constantly calling in sick, then they will not be guaranteed a position."
"We want the best employees to work in the new facility. Anybody who's doing a good job will definitely have a position, they will keep their seniority, all of their benefits and they will move forward."
"We're going to have a whole training program that's going to start about six months from opening, there's definitely an opportunity for them. Hey, we need 3,000 employees!"
Even so, some of the employees have not taken the hint. "If we think that we can be successful while having employees who are sleeping on the job, or smoking cigarettes on the floor," said Allen, "I'm here to tell you that would be a mistake. I do not want that to happen in the new building."
"For those bad apples who don't care, I guess the rumor has some truth to it. We do not want to hire those type of individuals."
While construction continues on the Hollywood Hard Rock, upgrades have also been made to the existing Hollywood Casino facilities. "The Tribe has been very successful for 20 years, but the type of facilities that we operate today are totally different then what we're going to be operating with the Hard Rock projects, and I think it would be fair to say that the existing facilities had gotten a little bit tired," said Allen.
" We've replaced some carpet, added a sign, done some touch up painting and replaced all the dead landscaping. I think that the operation really had suffered a little bit, and, with the help of Larry Frank and his team, we've been able to spend a few dollars to increase the public perception that it's not just a place filled with smoke."
To combat the smoke problem, air handler units from the Tribe's now-demolished Sheraton Four Points hotel in Tampa were put in the Hollywood casino. "We didn't fix the problem completely, but we tremendously reduced the smoke problem in the Hollywood facility," said Allen, "so, when you go in there, you know the customer feels a little bit more in tune to have some fun, not just gamble, because we really need to have both."
" I believe that the direction I received from the Tribal Council and Mr. Shore was that we're trying to create world-class facilities here and we want to do it as well as they do it in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the tribes up in Connecticut. That's really the goal we're striving for, and I'm really happy to say that our numbers have been up significantly, profit-wise, since we've been making a lot of these changes."
Allen also focused on the types of games that are offered in the Seminole casinos. The consensus was to offer casino patrons exciting and, more importantly, familiar, games. "The existing equipment that was in the Seminole casinos was very antiquated," said Allen, "every game looked the same."
The Tribe approached all of the Class II, and the major Class III, vendors in search of a better deal. Recently, the Tribe entered into an agreement with Sierra Design Group, which is affiliated with IGT, the largest manufacturers of slot machines in the world.
Under the new agreement, the new Seminole Hard Rock Casinos will offer class II versions of popular slots seen in Las Vegas such as Double Diamonds, Triple Sevens, Storm Chasers, and Red, White and Blue. "We will have these games on our floor next month," said Allen, "and they are Class II."
" We have over 600 titles that we have access to, so we'll be able to design the casino floor to look identical to a Las Vegas, Atlantic City or Connecticut casino. Right now, when all of the people now come to our casinos, they don't see any games they know, and a lot of people just leave."
" The new games, and the affiliation with IGT, is going to be a huge windfall for the Tribe."
The agreement with IGT has Allen convinced that the games will put the Seminole Tribe at the forefront of Class II gaming. "What we've designed here is legendary," said Allen, "everybody told me that none of the Class III vendors would ever do business with the Tribe and that's completely inaccurate."
In addition to the new games, Allen and Jenkins brought in Gaming Laboratories Inc., an independent testing facility used by every major gaming jurisdiction worldwide to verify the integrity of the gaming devices. In the past, the Tribe had never used any type of testing on the machines it had purchased.
"There was nobody completely independent of the Tribe that was checking to make sure that we were getting what we were buying, that the games were producing what they were supposed to produce, etc.," said Allen.
GLI was brought in to the test all of the Tribe's existing gaming devices, "and no future devices will go out onto the floor unless they're tested to insure the integrity of the gaming operation," said Allen.
Before, the Gaming Department did not have adequate internal controls and procedures in place to protect the Tribe. However, "whatever deficiencies we had, that was why I was brought in, to try to help fix those things, " said Allen.
"By having the assistance of GLI, which is not something that just I would do, Harrah's, Caesars, Park Place, MGM, it's required in every other gaming jurisdiction."
"What it also does is protect the Tribe so that I or Ed cannot do something that's not 100% above board. It's like another set of eyes that really protects the Tribe."
Presently, Allen is also focusing on raising the additional $95 million needed to complete the second phase of the project. After seven months of meeting with bondholders and investors, in May 2002, the Tribe secured the first $315 million to begin the first phase of construction, the second financing would pay for an additional 250 rooms to be added on to the hotel.
"Our goal is to do Phase II now, our goal is to raise the $95 million right now and have Hollywood open up with the 500 rooms and retail in check," said Allen, "and we believe we can do that."
The Seminole Hard Rock Projects
On May 15, the Seminole Tribe secured $315 million in bond financing for the first phase of construction for the Hollywood and Tampa Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino projects.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida will own and operate the Tampa and Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casinos, according to the licensing agreement with Hard Rock Café International.
The Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock will be located on 86 acres north of Stirling Road, between State Road 7 and the Florida Turnpike.
The destination resort and casino will consist of a 115,000 square foot casino in a 339,000 square foot building. There will also be a 15-story Mediterranean-style hotel tower and an enclosed 1,700 space parking facility, as well 1,700 surface parking spaces.
Once Phase II of construction is complete, the hotel will have 500 guestrooms, including 64 suites with the latest in amenities and security features, and over 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
The casino will have over 2,000 electronic gaming machines, 65 poker tables and a bingo gallery that will be able to seat 800 people.
There will also be a 19,000 square foot lagoon-style pool area that will feature a pool bar nestled in a rock mountain, waterslide, elevated spa, shallow kiddie pool with play features, beach volleyball area and poolside cabanas.
Dining and entertainment will include a Hard Rock Café, hotel restaurant, Coffee Bar, Pool Bar, Casino Center Bar, and a 250 seat Food Court. There were be additional restaurants in the nearby retail center.
There will be shopping throughout the resort including a gift shop that will market Seminole art and crafts. Phase II of construction will feature an adjacent retail and entertainment complex that will have specialty stores, restaurants and a multi-use venue.
The hotel is 10 minutes from the Hollywood International Airport and 30 minutes from the Miami International Airport.
Under construction since the middle of 2002, the Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock is scheduled to open in the spring of 2004.
The Tampa Seminole Hard Rock is located on the 37 acres west of North Orient Road, between I-4 and Hillsborough Avenue.
It will have a 90,000 square foot casino within a 210,000 square foot building, 10-story hotel tower and an enclosed 1,600 space parking facility, as well as 1,000 surface parking spaces.
The hotel will have 250 guestrooms, including 46 suites. There will also be 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
Guests can also visit the Spa, which will offer wet and dry treatments, exercise room, private outdoor garden, and separate men's and women's changing areas with steam, hydrotherapy pools and showers.
Outside, the pool area will have cabanas equipped with televisions and refrigerators and areas designed for beach volleyball, horseshoes and table tennis.
The casino will have over 1,500 electronic gaming machines, 55 poker tables and a bingo gallery for 800 people.
Dining and entertainment will include a 24-hour restaurant, Casino Center Bar, Sports Bar, Lobby Bar, 250-seat Food Court, and a specialty restaurant that includes staging for live performers and a DJ booth.
There will also be shopping opportunities throughout the resort and a Hard Rock retail store.
Under construction since 2002, The Casino is set to open in the spring of 2003, and the hotel in the spring of 2004.
The project developer is The Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to the Seminole Hard Rock projects, Cordish is developing three other projects, the Atlantic City Walk, Power Plant Live and Capital Centre.
The Atlantic City Walk is a $100 million retail and entertainment district connecting the Atlantic City Boardwalk and the City's Convention Center.
In a public-private partnership with the City of Baltimore, Cordish is developing a 400,000 square foot entertainment and office development, which will be the only pure entertainment district in Baltimore.
Capital Centre is Cordish's redevelopment of the former USAir Arena in Washington. DC in conjunction with the ownership of the NBA Wizards and the NHL Capitals.
The Seminole Hard Rock architect is Klai Juba of Las Vegas Nevada. The construction company is Perini/Suitt A Joint Venture from Tampa, Florida.