Eight people were injured at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Friday night when a construction wall gave way, authorities said.
Three of those were transported to area hospitals for treatment, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said. One man suffered a broken arm, according to the Seminole Tribe Police Department. The accident happened around 11 p.m.
Crews had erected up a 12- to 15-foot high temporary wall to separate an open section of the casino area from a high-limit slot room that's under construction. In between was a walkway.
Apparently, the wall hit some people on the walkway as it fell over.
"Fortunately, it wasn't like the full weight of something fell on anybody," Hard Rock President John Fontana said. " It fell against them this way (leaned). My understanding, based on the height of the wall and the width of the walkway is that ... most parts of the wall that tilted over never full reached the floor because they hit those slot banks."
A witness said the accident sounded like ice falling and that the wall crumbled a bit when it fell. The witness said he gathered his family and left, but he noticed that other patrons at the slot machines kept playing.
Fontana said it's unclear what caused the wall to come down.
"It was just built and shot into the floor and connected into the top," he said. "At this point, I don't know how and why it tipped over."
The hotel and casino in East Tampa remains open for business.