As reported by: The Associated Press
It was here, on a run-down stretch of State Road 7, that the multibillion-dollar Indian gambling industry had its humble beginnings. Today, the Seminoles' original high-stakes bingo hall still stands, but the squat building seems a relic from the past.

Just down the road, the tribe sees its future: A flashy Las Vegas-style complex called the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that is currently under construction.

There are big dreams, great expectations. Tribal leaders hope the casino and a twin complex in Tampa will more than triple annual gambling revenues to around $1 billion when they open early next year.

But some members fear overreaching may cause their spectacular rags-to-riches story to end in ruin.

The tribe has taken on $410 million in debt to finance the Hard Rock casino project. James Billie, the tribe's previous leader and the man who built the Seminoles' gambling empire, was ousted over a scandal involving allegations of multi-million dollar spending sprees.

Some Seminoles believe the quest for wealth has blinded tribal leadership to the real needs of its people.

"We have a severe housing shortage, infrastructure that needs to be updated," tribal member Gloria Wilson said. "In my opinion, we haven't had a government in a while. They've become a banking institution."

The casino project and its accompanying debt are "too ambitious for our coffers," Wilson said.

The Hollywood complex will be the bigger of the two casinos. It will have 130,000 square feet of casino space, a Hard Rock Cafe, a bar with 42 suspended plasma screen televisions, a spa and a 6,000-seat arena for concerts, among other features. It will also have 300,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants.

The 15-story, 500-room hotel will charge about $150 a night for average rooms. Seminole Gaming CEO James Allen said there are already tentative commitments for 60,000 room bookings, or enough to fill the hotel for four months.

The two Seminole complexes are expected to draw more than 20,000 visitors a day, have $700 million in annual revenue and create 6,000 full-time jobs for Indians and non-Indians, tribal officials said.

"It's going to be a pure economic engine," promises Max Osceola, the Hollywood representative on the tribal council.

The tribe sold $410 million in 30-year bonds to build the two Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos, Allen said. He said the bonds are trading above face value and have been popular with institutional investors.

The Hard Rock Cafe's parent company, The Rank Group PLC, bought $25 million of the bonds. The tribe only has a licensing deal to use Hard Rock's name, so the restaurant chain won't manage the complex. Hard Rock officials declined to comment for this story.

"Some of them were upset, saying: '410 million? That's a lot of money.' And that is a lot of money. But what do they say? You've got to spend money to make money," Osceola said.

There's no doubt gambling money made the Seminole Tribe of Florida rich. Each of the tribe's 3,000 or so members receives $42,000 a year and free health care and college tuition because of gambling income. Tribal leaders say that figure will likely go up after the Hard Rocks open in April.

The empire that Billie started with the bingo hall in 1979 led other tribes to turn to gambling, and the industry had $14.5 billion in revenues last year, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission, a federal agency.

But for the Seminoles, wealth has also invited legal troubles and accusations of greed. Billie and other leaders admitted in a trial where charges were later thrown out that they went on massive spending binges. Only Billie was ousted from leadership.

Tribal lawyers have acknowledged that federal officials are still investigating whether Seminole leaders paid millions of dollars in required taxes on gifts. The lawyers denied any wrongdoing by the tribe, and Internal Revenue Service officials declined to comment.

Billie says the current leadership is spending too much on the Hard Rock casinos and ruining his legacy as chief from 1979 to 2001.

"When I was there they made close to $3 billion. None of these guys will be able to achieve that," he said.