Getting nasty in Florida; Police blotter

A “tortured artifice.” That’s what Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (D) calls the new Florida gaming compact in a letter to the Interior Department. He urged them to reject the deal, not because of any issues with the Seminole Tribe, but on account of various baubles appended to the compact to placate private interests. Or, as Gelber put it in a nine-page missive Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, “It was simply a vehicle hijacked by non-tribal casino interests who fully corrupted the legislative and executive process in order to obtain advantages outside of tribal land and in direct contravention to the interests of Floridians.” Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ agenda, Gelber argues, was not to cut a deal with the Seminoles but to appease political donors and “his most important political patron,” Donald Trump. Incidentally, the latter is reportedly planning to flip his Doral resort to a gaming-centric corporation, should it get a casino license, which we didn’t expect.

Gelber accuses DeSantis of accepting free airplane rides and partying on yachts owned by his patrons, then rewarding them with gaming entitlements. “Indeed, their efforts paid off, as Governor DeSantis included provisions in the Florida Compact that set the groundwork for casino expansion for a prime campaign donor at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and for his major political patron at the Trump Doral.”

DeSantis, for his part, called Gelber’s accusations “ridiculous,” adding, “I think it’s just an example of some of these partisan politicians always trying to elevate themselves with any type of cheap headline they can get, trying to inject Trump into this.’’ He denied that the compact would enable any license transfers within Miami-Dade County and that the Legislature would have to approve such a thing, although he stopped short of addressing whether that would even be constitutional. Seminole spokesman Gary Bitner had DeSantis’ back, noting the overwhelming vote in both houses of the Lege to approve the compact. At the center of most of the disputation is not the Trump license-to-be but the hub-and-spoke model of sports betting, all of which would be run through servers on Seminole land. Even supporters of the compact admit they’re plying uncharted waters and could well run aground.

Speaking of Florida, a degenerate gambler beat the rap to the tune of three years’ probation after sending a series of death threats to members of the Tampa Bay Rays. Perhaps the most painful part of putz Benjamin Patz‘s punishment is to be barred from gambling during the duration of his sentence, which includes six months of house arrest. If you frequent the online demimonde of gamblers, you may know him as braggart “Parlay Patz.” And even though Patz is believed to have sent as many as 300 threatening e-mails, he was able to bargain his guilt down to a single count. Patz’s lawyer even claimed the belligerent person behind the keyboard was a ‘calm and meek’ citizen. “He has attempted to address the issues that basically formed a chaotic life,” said the legal beagle. We think some time in the slammer would really enable Patz to focus on his misdeeds. Hey, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime … or did crime pay in this apparent miscarriage of justice?

Atlantic City casinos have served as laundromats for as much as $107,000 in drug money from a meth ring. Police are on the trail of Jordan Ragland, who was the alleged bagman in the scheme. Already in custody is James Wright, who cops nabbed with 43 grand, plus drugs, guns and high-capacity magazines. There’d better be some soul-searching going on in Boardwalk C-suites after this news. Elsewhere in A.C., Hard Rock Atlantic City execs are going to have to book better acts than Guns ‘n Roses in order to claim that “A-list” entertainment has returned. How many decades has it been since G&R had a hit record?

Solons in North Carolina are so hard up for tax dollars that there’s serious talk of legalizing sports betting, even of rescinding tribal exclusivity over casino gambling. State Sens. Jim Perry (R) and Paul Lowe (D) may belong to different parties but they both represent some of the Tarheel State’s poorest citizens, and they see expanded sports betting (currently exclusive to tribes) as a lifeline. “Sometimes it feels like we don’t really face the realities that are in front of us,” Perry explained. “We discussed the fact that if you don’t have legal sports wagering in your state, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have sports wagering. It just means that you have illegal sports wagering. It’s sort of like ignoring the drunk uncle and locking him in the basement, instead of acknowledging where we are and what exists.”

Rather than ignore the drunk uncle, Perry and Lowe have introduced a bill that would legalize sports betting statewide and even provides prevention measures to address problem gambling. For support they can turn to a Spectrum Gaming report that estimates the size of the illegal betting marketing in North Carolina at $2 billion (or $538 million in taxes). The state already pulls in $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion a year from its lottery, and Perry and Lowe would dedicate sports-wagering proceeds to the same educational funds that the lottery supports. As betting advocate Preston Lannon notes, “Because the lottery gives money, millions and millions of dollars, so little kids can go to school, we’re all on board with that.”

The University of North Carolina is already up in arms against the bill, despite the presence of DraftKings executive Malcolm Turner on its board of trustees. Said athletic director Bubba Cunningham, “We do not support wagering on amateur athletics but know that it is legal in a number of states. We are working with our conference office and will be working with the NCAA on this issue.” Still, money talks and Spectrum projects that North Carolina could generate $367 million from sports betting. Throw in another $300 million if i-gaming were approved and $2.2 billion if casinos were allowed to spread. Perhaps the strongest hope opponents could have is that Native American tribes will not be keen to see their lucrative monopoly stripped from them. Lowe and Perry may be ahead of the curve but just give them a few years.

Jottings: Horse trainer and dope pusher Bob Baffert has been banned from Churchill Downs for two years, meaning he will missing the 2022 and ’23 Kentucky Derbies. Good call … Pansy Ho has been indulging in a little profs-taking, selling down her share in MGM Resorts International at a 50% premium to the going price. The deal netted her $86 million … Grand Lisboa Palace‘s debut might be delayed yet again, this time to somewhere in the autumn. What a shock. Not. Sociedade de Jogos de Macau couldn’t open a hot dog stand on time … Illusionist Mac King, late of Caesars Entertainment, will hanging out his shingle at Excalibur. Tickets start at $44.95 and performances begin June 22 … Smokers in Shreveport casinos will have to stub out their cigarettes starting August 1. Bossier City casinos are not affected by the ban, so it will be interesting to see if they pick up business as well as cigar butts … Global Gaming Expo will come back to Las Vegas in old-fashioned form Oct. 4-7. G2E held a virtual trade show last year … Add the El Cortez to the roster of casinos that have used pandemic downtime to execute capex upgrades. In this case, hotel rooms were redone and a high-limit salon added, to the tune of $25 million. Good on them—and happy 80th birthday.