Hard Rock Casino workers hit jackpot in raises
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HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Thousands of Seminole Hard Rock Casino employees have hit the jackpot.
Casino officials are giving raises to workers in 95 job classifications across the country and right here in Tampa Bay.
“We’re adding $100,000,000 to our payroll nationwide this coming year, of which about $25,000,000 will be here in Tampa," said Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Tampa President Steve Bonner.
“About 1,500 of our employees, which is about half of our staff, are getting what we consider life changing raises.”
Many of the employees got notice of their raises in hand-delivered envelopes. Some got up to a $16,000 increase. For J’Kyrah Johnson, her hourly rate went up $4.
“First, I was shocked," she said, “Then I was like, 'Is this for real?' Then I got the paperwork and I was like, 'Oh my God!' I was so thankful.” At age 20, she's only been on the job as a security officer at the casino for a month and a half, but she says the raise is giving her life a whole new direction.
“I want to get my own place and I want also get a nicer car," Johnson said. The raises are going to security workers, cooks, housekeepers and other employees who don't typically earn money from tips. With a job market that has more positions than people to fill them, casino officials hope the spike in wages put the hiring odds back in their favor.
“We have about 500 open positions just here in Tampa and about 1,600 nationwide," Bonner said. “If somebody’s seeing this from somewhere else where there’s a Hard Rock available, we have a lot of jobs open and this should be incentive enough, because it is enough to make a living wage.”
And although she's not even old enough to gamble yet, Johnson is already betting on a long career at Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
“Security, really, I think it’s the job for me," she said.
