While other casino operators have given up on Florida in favor of Atlanta and other locations, Malaysia-based Genting Berhad and St. Louis-based Isle of Capri Casinos still are closely monitoring the Florida legislature which recently convened for its 60-day session.
In 2011, Genting, which is developing the $4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas, spent $500 million on the former Miami Herald building and 30-acre site on Biscayne Bay in anticipation of developing the planned $3.8 billion Resorts World Miami. The complex would have 5,000 hotel rooms, 1,000 condominiums, gaming, retail, dining and other attractions. The 2012 gaming bill would have allowed destination casinos. Genting still owns the land and is expected to seek approval to operate a scaled-down, slots-only casino there.
Isle of Capri operates a slots-only casino at the Pompano Park racetrack that accounts for 15 percent of the company’s annual cash flow. Isle and other racino operators are lobbying to lower their tax rates and add blackjack tables to offset business lost to the expanded Seminole casino operations. Isle Chief Executive Officer Virginia McDowell told analysts in December, “We are very active. We continue to work towards whatever parity we can get, and we are working the process diligently at this point.”
Another interested party is the town of Davie, Florida, which recently hired two veteran lobbyists to preserve its share of Seminole gaming money, which totaled $229,582 last year from the local government-sharing portion of the Seminole compact due to the impact of the Hard Rock Casino. The money is at risk until lawmakers can approve the new proposed compact.
So the town hired Dave Ericks, a long-time lobbyist in the state capital who already was on staff, plus veteran Tallahassee lobbyists Ron Book and Ron Greenstein, to make sure it continues to receive its piece of Hard Rock revenue. Book is being paid a maximum of $60,000, and Greenstein will receive $10,000. The three also represent Broward County, which also is seeking a portion of the Seminole’s revenue, but Davie town commissioners don’t believe there’s any problem with that.
