None whatsoever. It is important to remember that Cuba’s pre-Castro, mobbed-up casinos were viewed as a symbol of the hated Fulgencio Batista regime and were ransacked when the latter fell from power. Batista himself was skimming money from the casino industry, which Fidel Castro outlawed in early 1959. (The old casinos still stand, albeit in outdated condition.) "I don't think there’s any question every casino executive in the United States and beyond is thinking of a plan to get into Cuba," Nova Southeastern University professor Bob Jarvis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "It's fabulous. It's going to be huge, absolutely huge."
Not so fast, Bob. Gambling in legal throughout much of the Caribbean and we can’t find any "huge" casinos in those tourist magnets. The largest one in Puerto Rico, Casino del Mar, has 500 slots and 18 table games. Commercial casinos in Puerto Rico are fighting a losing battle with thousands of illegal slot machines, found in numerous two-bit establishments throughout the island.
Also, President Raul Castro would have to reverse 56 years of anti-gambling policy in Cuba. Even if he did, locals might be barred from playing, as is largely the case in Vietnam and South Korea, where almost all casinos are tourist-only operations.
The effect of opening Cuba to U.S. tourism is more likely to fall upon southern Florida, where casino interests including Sheldon Adelson, Genting Group, and the Seminole Tribe can use the specter of renascent Cuban casinos to increase pressure on the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott to widen gambling opportunities in the Sunshine State.
The Seminole Tribe told the Sun-Sentinel that comment on the Cuban market was "way too early," while Spectrum Gaming Group casino expert Michael Pollock said, "So many steps would need to be taken before it becomes a realistic pursuit. It would require a stable, open government, a relatively transparent regulatory system, a lot of capital investment for the fading, crumbling tourism infrastructure. A lot has changed since Cuba was a gambling destination, not the least of which a lot of other islands offer [gambling], and it’s so prevalent in the United States." Indeed, why fly to Cuba to get what you can have in Biloxi or New Orleans?
