The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation recently denied the request of Dania Entertainment Center to be allowed to sell its permit and let the next operator build on a new location in Broward County. Dania asked for a declaratory judgment on its “converted” summer jai-alai permit.
Jai-alai gaming permits also allow a facility to open a cardroom and offer simulcast betting. Dania Entertainment Center operates the Casino @ Dania Beach, which currently offers slots and electronic table games. The company has a tentative deal with an unnamed buyer who wants to build a casino at a new location. However, the terms of the sale require that the new owner be allowed to open elsewhere in the county. Not being able to relocate the permit limits its “marketability” and “will diminish the tax revenue and opportunity for mass local job creation that could be generated,” according to the original request.
The casino is owned by a group of Argentine investors and the Havenick family, which also operates the Casino @ Dania Beach.
The decision further reinforces state control over gambling, especially after a permit is granted. The Business and Professional Regulation Department’s “final order” also favors the Seminole Tribe of Florida, who said allowing gambling licenses to be moved within a county “would provide out-of-state companies with an incentive to buy a license, possibly resulting in increased business competition for the Tribe.”
Dania Entertainment Center attorney John Lockwood said the company may appeal to the 1st District Court of Appeal.
