Florida Casino Information

I lived in Florida for 4 years and I must say for a casino player and more specifically a penny player like me, it was a rough period of time.

You have two options when it comes to slot play in Florida. You have either the Seminole Hard Rock Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa or your choice of casino boat cruises. This has changed some since my time in Florida with the new laws allowing slot play at race tracks in Broward County and other counties so there are now more options. For more information read this article from the Florida Casino Report website

I had the pleasure of going to both Hard Rocks but spent most of my time in Tampa. I did actually get to go when it was still the Seminole Indian Gaming Palace. All I remember about it prior to the new management was it was very smokey and had games I had never seen before. It was then I learned the little trick to Florida land-based gaming.

As some may know, Florida is a Class II machine base. Which means that the slot machines primary function is a bingo game. On the top of every player screen there is a standard 24 number bingo card. Before each spin, a number is drawn and a space is marked accordingly on your card. I'm not an expert so I wont dive deeper into the logistics of it all.

The main issue I have with this type of gaming is that there is a lag in play while you and others wait for this bingo number to be drawn. Yes, you do occasionally get a bingo and win some minuscule amount of money, but its just annoying. Always confused me how I would get odd numbers on a nickel machine, $5,27 or so.

Now after the Hard Rock joined up with the Seminole Gaming place to become the Seminole Hard Rock Casinos, the games did get more modernized with games like Little Green Men, Tex Tea, Jackpot Party, and Wheel of Fortune being added to random pull tab type machines and penny machines started to appear more and more, the bingo game is still the main function of the machines. So now you have better games with more interactive bonus rounds but even more impatience with the lag time because of the Bingo function. At least its not as smokey as it used to be.

As for the casino cruises, or cruise to no where as Its been referred to, wow. The boats, at least the one I was on, are fairly large, and lots of the popular games but very, very, few penny machines.

It was interesting because its a completely different mentality of slot player. The basics of it is that when you first enter the ship all the games are off. This was the first time I have ever seen the machines not on. At the time I was used to 24 hour gaming but I have learned now that I'm in Colorado were casino are only 8 am - 2 am, that machines can be turned off. wow. I was wonder why everyone was fighting over chairs at the slot machines if they were all off.

Well once you get into international waters which is about 3o-45 minutes after you castoff, all the machines turn on. Like magic, all the chairs rotated and the coins started to drop. It was amazing. I have never felt like such a casino novice in my life. Be prepared, your on that ship for 4 hours no matter how long your bank roll lasts. Once the bank roll is gone, good luck.

Well that's about it for today, Ill be back later with specific reviews for each of these casinos but for the mean time check out the Florida Casino Report for specific information on gaming in Florida and casino reviews.

J