The $315 million undertaking is being funded by Capital Trust agency revenue bonds and will be paid back from Casino sales, Hard Rock says in a prepared statement. Hard Rock's British parent, the Rank Group Plc of London, is buying $25 million in bonds.

The casinos are being jointly developed through a licensing agreement with Hard Rock, the Seminoles and Baltimore, MD-based Cordish Co. The projects are expected to open at an unspecified time in 2004.

As an initial concession to the state's anti-casino position, the properties will not be patterned after Las Vegas' high-stakes poker and slots. Instead, the 90,000-sf Tampa operation, off Exit 5 and Interstate 4, will have 1,500 slot machines, 50 gaming tables, a 250-room hotel and 12 restaurants.