{"id":2543,"date":"2010-03-12T11:32:56","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T19:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=2543"},"modified":"2018-07-24T09:02:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T17:02:24","slug":"whos-crazier-adelson-or-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/whos-crazier-adelson-or-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s crazier: Adelson or Florida?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Adelson\"Pay no attention to the over-budget, behind-schedule megaresort in the background<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Six casinos at $2 billion apiece. No joking, that’s what a Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> flunky is proposing in Florida<\/strong>. (I guess the white-out of Atlantic City<\/strong> isn’t the only snow job on the East Coast.) Oh, and a 10% tax rate … far less than what existing operators are paying.<\/p>\n

Legislators, dazzled by state-generated projections of as much as $2.3 billion in licensing fees, are apparently eating this all up. Imagine the black laughter Adelson spokesman Andy Abboud<\/strong> would get from the Nevada Legislature<\/strong> if he used the phrase “long-term, stable revenue for the state” with a straight face up in Carson City<\/strong>. One can’t blame Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, though, for trying to sell this preposterous overreach, considering that Florida solons sound like they just fell off the turnip truck.<\/p>\n

Had they done their homework, they might have asked a few sharp questions, starting with my Mom’s favorite: “Using what<\/em> for money?” Sands’ liquidity issues — partially alleviated by an IPO in Macao<\/strong> — appear to have escaped their notice. They might also wonder at how Sands will build a half-dozen casinos in Florida alone when it currently has a pair of unfinished hotels in Macao, the incomplete Sands Bethlehem<\/strong>, $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands<\/strong> is running a year behind schedule — and grotesquely over budget — in Singapore<\/strong> and there’s no timeline for resumption of the abortive St(ump) Regis<\/strong> condo tower<\/a> on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Is there any economic indicator to date that Florida will support one<\/em> Strip-sized megaresort, let alone six? Quite the contrary (although one economist vehemently disagrees<\/a>). And, given Sands’ cheerful indifference to budgets, schedules and market conditions, the notion that it could bring in even one casino on time and budget inspires incredulity. Also, if the state is going to be protecting Adelson from competition, why should he enjoy a preferential tax rate? If he wants the state to gift-wrap the Florida market for him, he should be willing to pay — at a premium rate.<\/p>\n

While the time may have arrived for Florida to experiment with a Class III megaresort or two, lawmakers should turn their ears from Adelson’s seductive croon<\/a>. Entrusting casino development in Florida to Sands isn’t a role of the dice; it’s more like playing Russian roulette with multiple bullets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pay no attention to the over-budget, behind-schedule megaresort in the background. Six casinos at $2 billion apiece. No joking, that’s what a Sheldon Adelson flunky is proposing in Florida. (I guess the white-out of Atlantic City isn’t the only snow … 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":[23,28,14,62,95,33,12,108,31,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543"}],"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=2543"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22137,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions\/22137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}