{"id":14345,"date":"2014-08-18T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T21:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=14345"},"modified":"2022-10-22T15:28:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T23:28:23","slug":"pacifism-in-alabama-flop-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/pacifism-in-alabama-flop-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacifism in Alabama; Flop in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Waggoner\"<\/a>There’s nothing that trumps ideology like the need for tax dollars. Such is the case in Alabama<\/strong>, where budget shortfalls are bringing state government around to the idea of a gaming compact with Poarch Band of Creek Indians<\/strong>. No negotiations are happening at the present moment but lawmakers are uttering conciliatory noises<\/a>.\u00a0“I think we need to put everything on the table and take a look at it,” said state Sen. Jabo Waggoner<\/strong> (R, right<\/em>), while state Senate Pro Tem Del March<\/strong> (R) added, “The end goal should be: How do you solve the budget woes long-term in a fiscally responsible manner?”<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley<\/strong> (R) is acting as a brake on the movement toward a compact. He wants legislators to allow Attorney General Luther Strange<\/strong>‘s (left<\/em>) anti-Poarch Band suit to play out in the 111th Circuit Court of Appeals<\/strong>. A Strange victory, however, wouldn’t help anyone, as it would impel the removal of the tribe’s lucrative electronic bingo — and where’s the new revenue to come from then? (The Poarch Band is helping finance the election candidate of Strange’s opponent.)<\/p>\n

However, Bentley did allow as a compact “may or may not be a part of that [larger solution]. We’ll consider that if it’s part of the overall equation.” The Poarch Band is eager to share but only has a series of state-capital rebuffs to show for its pains. According to the band’s government-relations advisor, Robert McGhee<\/strong>,\u00a0It is unfortunate that, in these difficult economic times, our compact offer has never been considered.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t cry for them, Argentina<\/strong>. If you thought Revel<\/strong> did badly, you should see Dania Casino<\/strong>. The jai-alai fronton\u00a0lasted a bare six months. It’s closing for a year-long, $50 million makeover. (Ownership only plowed $15 million into it before opening.) You’ll recall Dania as the parimutuel that Boyd Gaming<\/strong> bought, then deemed unviable, finally selling — although there was some drama to that, too.<\/p>\n

\"Dania\"<\/a>With its slots doing an incredibly subpar $65\/slot\/day, business as usual wasn’t an option for Dania’s owners, a group of businessmen from Argentina<\/strong>. Dania attorney John Lockwood<\/strong> begged credulity when he said\u00a0“the revenue is not the reason for interrupting the operation.” What else, then? Nearby Gulfstream Park<\/strong> is pulling in $15o\/slot\/day and Mardi Gras<\/strong> casino is seeing $139\/slot\/day.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was clearly a mistake to try and remake Dania Casino on the fly. The closing will allow an orderly expansion of the slot floors, and the \"Duke-017\"<\/a>addition of restuarants and bars. (A marina will also be added.) Ownership got a vote of confidence from Dania Beach<\/strong> Mayor Walter Duke<\/strong>\u00a0(left<\/em>),\u00a0who said,\u00a0“So far, since acquiring the asset, they’ve done everything they’ve said they’d do.”<\/span><\/p>\n

More concerned was Florida’s chief economist, Amy Baker<\/strong>, who said of Dania Casino’s revenue,\u00a0“That’s the lowest we’ve ever seen, by far.\u00a0And usually casinos will start strong and taper off. They don’t have much room to drop.” Last week’s drastic means that Dania will have to host an abbreviated jai-alai season in December, lest the gambling license lapse.<\/span><\/p>\n

* Contrary to what was previously reported here, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> is hanging onto its Crystals<\/strong> retail mall, valued at $1 billion. CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> also implied that he’d like to buy out Dubai World<\/strong>‘s half of CityCenter<\/strong> but the emirate isn’t interested. Does he really want all that extra expose (plus the multiple billions of debt)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s nothing that trumps ideology like the need for tax dollars. Such is the case in Alabama, where budget shortfalls are bringing state government around to the idea of a gaming compact with Poarch Band of Creek Indians. No negotiations … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[135,60,56,134,36,11,33,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14345"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31787,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14345\/revisions\/31787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}