The race for Florida is on

Emissaries from Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts were in Tallahassee to woo Florida legislators yesterday. Also present was Boyd Gaming, which owns property in the Sunshine State and understandably doesn’t want to see solons crafting a sweetheart deal for either Steve Wynn or Sheldon Adelson. The latter’s ambassador, Vice President of Government Relations & Community Development Andy Abboud (below), projected a 4.5 year timeline for completing Venetian Miami or whatever Sands hopes to build. That sounds like an awfully liberal allowance until you consider that Sands has at least four projects (more, if you count the various hotels on Cotai Strip™ Sites 5 & 6 separately) in various stages of incompletion. If Abboud says four and half years, it’ll probably take at least five.

To Sands’ credit, it’s against the Lege making an end-run around local voters. (No big concession, as the courts would probably take a dim view of it.) Less admirable is its demand for a preferential tax rate, which would sandbag the parimutuels, who have been eking it out with slots and a 50% tax rate, recently lowered to a “mere” 35%.

(Speaking of sand, S&G reader Detroit1051 reminds us that Florida, while it may lack Vegas-class resorts, has the world’s most unique piano bar … as in sandbar.)

You’d think a Sands-quality property would edge the competition without the extra boost of a two-tier tax rate. With typical Adelson overkill, Sands has six lobbyists on its payroll, leaving Wynn (three) and Genting Bhd (one) outnumbered. But they’re countering by signing lobbyists who have “juice” with new Gov. Rick Scott (R).

Sands is also — no surprise — the proponent of an absurd protectionist measure that would give each casino operator a 75-mile radius (not diameter) of exclusivity. Now, I’ve not done the map-and-calipers measurements yet, but by my rough calculation, one casino in Miami would take the entire rest of southern Florida out of the running. Sarasota would be about as near as another operator could get. This Adelsonian scheme gives a lopsided advantage to some cities (Jacksonville would practically get a casino by default) while Sands hogs everything from Lake Okechobee southward to itself. Yes, Florida arbitrators could theoretically cede Miami to Wynn or Genting, but so far Sands has been captaining the ship of state where this issue is concerned.

It’s a huge gamble for the state. Literally. The first fiscal year of the compact signed with the Seminole Tribe last spring is expected to yield $437.5 million for the state, bulked up by monies owed under a now-superseded compact. The new compact guarantees the state $150 million per year, escalating to $234 million — or, if higher, 10% of net revenues — in the fifth and final year. That would mean, at a 9% tax rate, private-sector casinos would have to be a $2 billion/year industry right out of the box, or else the state budget takes a hit. According to the terms of the compact, any 2015 expansion of off-reservation in gambling automatically reduces the Seminoles’ obligation to the state.

However, the Wynn/Adelson offensive might be a “win” for the Seminoles if it succeeds. The state’s lucrative deal with them is premised on tribal exclusivity for certain games. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes are entitled to every form of gambling permitted elsewhere in the state. So whatever games Steve and Sheldon get, the Seminoles can have them, too. And if the Scott (above) or his successor tries to interdict them, the Seminoles can take their case to the Interior Department, potentially cutting Tallahassee out of the revenue loop altogether. (For its part, the Lege can try to revoke the games it permitted in 2010 — but good luck with that.)

As I’ve said before, lawmakers are wagering the bird in their hands against the two they believe to be in the bush. By scheming to breach the spirit, if not the letter of their deal with the Seminoles just months after it took effect, they’re certainly living down to the “white man speak with forked tongue” stereotype.