Backers of Florida casinos, working under the rubric of Associated Industries of Florida, evidently take voters down there for simpletons. Their ‘See Spot Run’ pitch for casino-based destination resorts describes something that sounds very much like Venelazzo or Wynncore, then has the brass to declare, “Destination Resorts [sic] are a new concept unlike anything currently in existence on U.S. soil.”
HA! We’ve had them in Vegas ever since Steve Wynn opened The Mirage, lo, these 23 years ago, Atlantic City got into that game less than a decade back with Borgata, and let’s not forget Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Adding insult to untruth, AIF offers this supposedly pacifying verbiage: “gaming facilities would be limited to no more than 10 percent of the resorts’ total square footage.”
Oh please, stop! I can’t take the hilarity anymore! The gargantuan casino-based resorts of Singapore cap gaming square footage at 6%. Hunter Hillegas ran some numbers for us and came up with 5.5% for Venetian Macao (nobody’s idea of a boutique property) and a seemingly puny 2.5% for Bellagio. Allowing for all the variables involved between one casino and another (does or doesn’t the parking garage count?), MGM Resorts International gave us figures that computed to a massive-for-Vegas 4.5% at Monte Carlo, down to 1.6% at dowdy old Circus Circus. For a Florida resort to devote 1/10 of its property to the casino floor and not have it be unimaginably large, those much-touted amenities would have to be pared back substantially. Mind you, going to Class III gambling in Florida is premised on a high level of investment, one which will require blockbuster gaming revenues in order to generate any significant ROI. If lawmakers haven’t twigged to any of this, don’t expect AIF’s big-ass lobbying force to clue them in anytime soon.
As you can see from the TV spot above, AIF is promising both “restrictions on gaming” and what will likely be some of the biggest — probably the biggest — casino floors known to mankind. If that’s what the Lege wants to enact, more power to them. But, hey, AIF: Quit treating Florida voters like they all just fell off the turnip truck.
P.S.: Thanks to reader Detroit1051 for digging up the links and video.
