{"id":17808,"date":"2016-03-01T13:02:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T21:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=17808"},"modified":"2016-03-02T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T23:04:33","slug":"painful-progress-for-seminole-compact-casinos-dead-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/painful-progress-for-seminole-compact-casinos-dead-in-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Painful progress for Seminole compact; Casinos dead in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be back to the negotiating table for Florida<\/strong> Gov. Rick Scott<\/strong> (R), if a state House of Representatives version of the compact with Seminole Tribe<\/strong> is accepted in the \"rick-scott\"state\u00a0Senate. The compromise version of the compact adds slots at parimutuels in five counties (Palm Beach<\/strong>, Brevard<\/strong>, Gadsden<\/strong>, Lee<\/strong> and Washington<\/strong> counties) that have already approved them. That in itself might cause the Seminoles to demand a smaller amount of revenue sharing than the $3 billion<\/a> to which they have already agreed. Other counties could opt in if they vote for slots by January of next year. Four parimutuels in the greater Tampa<\/strong> area could add slots without holding a vote.<\/p>\n

Money from the compact would be rechanneled to Tampa Bay Downs<\/strong>, and several forms of racing would be decoupled from the slots-at-parimutuels requirements. As Rep. Matt Gaetz<\/strong> (R) said,\u201cI think it is barbaric that we require people to engage in greyhound racing that kills animals and has dogs running for their life with nobody watching.\u2019\u2019\u00a0A new, slots-only casino would be approved for Miami-Dade County<\/strong>. In return, the Seminoles get veto power over daily fantasy sports. Taxes on racinos could go from 35% to as low as 25% if they agree to cut back on their number of slot machines. These are only some of the many moving parts on a Rube Goldberg<\/strong> contraption that demonstrates eloquently why one should never watch sausages or legislation being made, although Rep. Jose Felix Diaz<\/strong> (R) managed to get Orlando<\/strong> solons on board by promising that the Seminoles wouldn’t be able to create megaresorts in their area. The compact still has a tenuous hope in the Legislature but only two weeks remain before it will become academic.<\/p>\n

* While Gov. Scott’s compact is still alive and kicking Florida, gambling legalization in Georgia<\/strong> is effectively dead for 2016<\/a>, after Speaker of the House David Ralston<\/strong> (R) \"nathan_deal\"punted on holding a vote. Ralston chalked up his opposition to the influence of the churchy set, saying, “I have found that the people I have talked with care deeply about the character and image of our state and the faith community felt they had not been heard. I want them to know they have been heard.” He was backstopped by Gov. Nathan Deal<\/strong> (R, right<\/em>), who said gambling wouldn’t “enhance” the Peachtree State and would divert discretionary dollars from the Georgia Lottery<\/strong>, a prime source of education funding. Both MGM Resorts International<\/strong> and Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> expended a lot of political capital on convincing Georgia legislators, and now must consider whether it’s worth making the effort again in the next Lege.<\/p>\n

* A safer bet is a proposed casino in Tiverton<\/strong>, Rhode Island<\/strong>. The enabling legislation is progressing through the Legislature and there’s a lot for politicians to like, whether it’s a guaranteed $3 million (regardless of actual casino proceeds) to Tiverton or at least $47 million in tax revenues (more if Massachusetts<\/strong> withholds its fourth and final gaming license). Tiverton residents have mixed feelings about adding a casino that would replace outdated Newport Grand<\/strong>. But as sleuth Charlie Chan<\/strong> sagely observed, when money talks few are deaf.<\/p>\n

* Indiana<\/strong> regulators may be in contravention of their state’s limitation of two casino licenses per owner. Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc<\/strong>.’s purchase of Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> would add Belterra<\/strong> and Ameristar East Chicago<\/strong> to a portfolio that already includes Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg<\/strong>. The state seems clearly in the wrong here but is ignoring complaints<\/a> from Unite-Here<\/strong> against allowing the takeover to occur. While combining Pinnacle with assets of Penn National Gaming<\/strong> creates a number of redundancies (especially in St. Louis<\/strong>), divesting assets would appear to defeat the purpose of the Pinnacle acquisition.<\/p>\n

* Believe it or not, if you live in Maryland<\/strong> you can’t hold a friendly game of poker in your home. The House of Delegates is moving to change that<\/a>, voting unanimously to legalize residential poker games. The state still extends certain restraints: You can’t play more than once a week or have a buy-in exceeding $500. However, just as the current ban is selectively enforced (a game at a retirement home was busted), Delegate Kirill Reznik<\/strong> says, “I highly doubt if you go over by $40 the cops will be at your door.\u201d It’s nice to see a bit of common sense in politics every now and then.<\/p>\n

* Even if you’ve lived in Las Vegas<\/strong> for years and think you know the area, there are still myriad discoveries to be made — as the New York Times<\/em>‘ intrepid Lucas Peterson<\/strong> discovers. His odyssey<\/a> is a real eye-opener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It will be back to the negotiating table for Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), if a state House of Representatives version of the compact with Seminole Tribe is accepted in the state\u00a0Senate. The compromise version of the compact adds slots … 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":[36,152,190,67,72,112,11,69,30,33,111,25,141,200,12,19,196],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17808"}],"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=17808"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17828,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17808\/revisions\/17828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}