Donald Trump won’t be opening a casino in Doral. Neither will anyone else. Not if the Doral City Council has its way. It voted unanimously to bar casino gambling within the city, which encompasses The Donald’s struggling resort. This has nothing to do with Trump’s financial chicanery and moral turpitude (which ought to bar him from a gaming license outright), and everything to do with preserving the letter and spirit of Amendment 3 to the Florida constitution. The latter reads, in part, “This amendment ensures that Florida voters shall have the exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling by requiring that in order for casino gambling to be authorized under Florida law, it must be approved by Florida voters pursuant to Article XI, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution.” It’s hard to be much clearer than that. The juice job for Trump and Jeffrey Soffer recently passed by the Lege is unlikely to withstand the smell test in court and it certainly flopped with the Doral city fathers.
Stalking horse Eric Trump has been jawboning in favor of Doral for months, telling the Washington Post, “Many people consider Trump Doral to be unmatched from a gaming perspective—at 700 acres, properties just don’t exist of that size and quality in South Florida, let alone in the heart of Miami.” Admittedly, “many people” is usually Trumpspeak for “I’m totally pulling this out of my ass,” but even if Trump fils is right, that doesn’t make it constitutional. The Eric needn’t start putting slot machines in yet; a long court fight is surely looming over the Seminole compact, which has the watertight integrity of a sieve.
In the spirit of bipartisanship, let it be known that—as we suspected—the awarding of a Richmond casino to Urban One has the earmarks of an inside deal. Mayor Levar Stoney (D) took $20,000 in campaign contributions from casino investor Greg Cummings. This is not the first time that Urban One-linked money has found its way into Stoney’s coffers. When asked about this remarkable coincidence, Stoney feigned ignorance, saying, “You have to talk to Urban One about that, this is obviously news to me.” Ah yes, the left hand is forever unaware of what the right is doing. In Stoney’s case, while his left hand (i.e., campaign committee) took Urban One money, his right hand recommended that the project be the final choice for Richmond’s sole casino license. Talk about not passing the smell test!
By contrast, rebuffed suitor Cordish Gaming made no campaign contributions to anyone. Some of its partners did, however—but they weren’t as george as Urban One. This was clearly a pay-to-play situation. After all, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins was a benefactor of City Councilman Mike Jones when he sought higher office and a Stoney-affiliated PAC sprinkled financial pixie dust all over several other city council members. Liggins’ defense was “From the inception of our company, we have supported African American legislators seeking higher office–that’s in the DNA of our companies.” It sure didn’t hurt his cause in Richmond. Stoney’s selection, incidentally, has yet to be finalized. The city council will consider it next Monday and then it goes to the voters, so this potential scandal has plenty of time to snowball before November. In the meantime, we’ll probably hear a lot more from Stoney campaign manager Kevin Zeithmal, who said “To put it simply, they were Black business leaders donating to a Black candidate—not too dissimilar from white business leaders donating to a white candidate.” Yes, it’s the old ‘Two wrongs make a right’ defense. We’ll see how that plays at the ballot box.
Sports betting in Iowa is in a two-month decline. Maybe it will help now that punters are allowed to wager on overseas dog and horse races. Hawkeye State books had initially been taking such bets but the state temporarily suspended it out of an abundance of caution. New legislation was passed to clarify that, yes, bets on offshore ponies and puppies are kosher. Sports books saw $115 million in handle last month. Revenue was a comparatively meager $6 million. “Iowa is more driven by college athletics than the majority of the largest markets in the U.S., so the end of college basketball season was bound to have an outsized effect,” said PlayUSA analyst Dustin Gouker, who opined that takings would have been even worse without successful play by the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. William Hill‘s six-casino alliance enabled it to lap the field with $37.5 million in handle. Wild Rose, which partners with both DraftKings and BetRivers, was next with $34 million, then came Diamond Jo‘s $27.5 million (FanDuel/BetMGM). It had the last laugh, though, with $2.5 million in receipts compared to Wild Rose’s $1.5 million and William Hill’s $1 million.
Terrestrial casinos, meanwhile, raced well ahead of 2019, with $156.5 million in revenue, up 21%. Among the major players, Ameristar Council Bluffs won $16 million, up 13%, while Boyd Gaming‘s Diamond Jo-branded duo grossed $16.5 million, a 19.5% upsurge, and the various and sundry Caesars Entertainment properties combined for $41 million in winnings, a 20% jump.
Mohegan Sun has barely been in Las Vegas and it’s already been zapped with a $60,000 fine for lack of Covid-19 protocols within the Virgin Las Vegas casino. According to one report, “Images were published in the media which shows [sic] guests were not wearing masks at all. Masks could be removed while eating, drinking, or smoking, but the individuals photographed were not taking part in any such activity.” The violations date as far back as opening night. New Mohegan CEO Ray Pineault took full responsibility for the failure and threw himself upon the mercy of regulators, who will approve or disapprove the penalty on June 24. The irony is that if Virgin LV had opened after June 1 the issue would be moot and its conduct wouldn’t be the least bit untoward. Pineault needs to rap a few knuckles amongst his Vegas management team.
Jottings: Las Vegas must really be back. RuPaul’s Drag Race Live returns to the Flamingo on August 5. Tickets start at $49. In Vegas that qualifies as “wallet-friendly” … The Crown Resorts money-laundering scandal is infecting other Australian casinos. Star Entertainment Group and SkyCity Entertainment Group are also coming under scrutiny. This has the potential to run a cart and horses through Star’s takeover attempt of Crown … North Dakota‘s Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold could build a casino just off the south Las Vegas Strip. Or they might not. Speculation is rife as to what they plan to do with nine acres of fallow land, Our money’s on the lowest-cost option: Overflow parking for Allegiant Stadium, which is going to need it.
Admit your political position is all about the money and your hatred for others u disagree with. I disagree with you and you should respect my position to disagreee allow it but politely demonstrate with facts to disagree and prove it, FACTS count. Try the founders of this country.
Thank you for mentioning “the founders”, they set up three co-equal Branches of government. Election disputes are for the Judicial Branch, Trump took his complaints to court and lost every single one. Trying to overthrow the government through insurrection and other means outside of the Founder’s outlined dispute methods is dangerous and will likely lead to more violence. Nothing David wrote on this post has to do with politics, it’s all about Trump’s history with casinos and business development. David does not hate anyone who reads this blog, he appreciates you and your views, Trump’s meticulously documented history as a casino operator is what it is…
David calls it how it is. His political preferences show, but they do not influence what he reports. Regardless of what or who you are, if you are a dickhead, he will call you out on it. But he reports what he finds with no bias, just what he finds. I do not recall him picking on anyone that did not deserve it. And I am sure if he finds he made a mistake, he will be the first to point it out.