{"id":5512,"date":"2011-01-07T14:07:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-07T22:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5512"},"modified":"2017-11-30T10:48:40","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T18:48:40","slug":"sheldon-ill-take-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/sheldon-ill-take-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon: I’ll take Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s amazing what a transformative effect a night’s stay at Venelazzo<\/strong> will have. After stopping by Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s little pied-a-terre<\/em>, Florida<\/strong> Gov. Rick Scott<\/strong> (left<\/em>) has done a 180 on casino expansion<\/a> in Florida. Now Scott, refreshed by an evening’s sleep on Sheldonian linens, is suddenly down with Adelson’s proposed, $3 billion Miami <\/strong>megaresort. That’s one possible by-blow of legislation currently being fast-tracked through the Sunshine State’s Legislature.<\/p>\n

Points still to be debated include whether to give 75-mile-radius “exclusivity zones” to resort operators —\u00a0 in return for a $50 million gratuity to the state — or opt for Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>-style critical mass. (Economic history would argue convincingly for the latter.) Scott’s excuse for his flip-flop is less than manly: “We’ve already approved gambling.” Yes, long before<\/em> Scott ran for office on a we-don’t-need-casinos platform, so it’s not like he woke up one fine day in mid-November and suddenly discovered casinos in South Florida.<\/p>\n

It’s also not as though<\/strong> adding four or five megaresorts is a done deal. Can the state override the county-by-county approval process? That remains to be litigated. Vegas-style casinos would almost certainly be the death knell for Florida’s parimutuels, already losing the revenue race to the Seminole Tribe<\/strong>. The Lege might throw tracks and frontons a life preserver in the form of a reduction of the gaming tax rate to around 9% (one of the lowest in the U.S., if enacted), way down from the current 35% — to say nothing of the confiscatory 50% rate originaly insisted upon by then-Gov. Jeb Bush<\/strong> (below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"The plan also drives a cart and horses through the state’s compact with the Seminoles, its ink barely dry, costing Tallahassee<\/strong> at least $150 million in annual revenue. Given that Florida’s casino market hasn’t lived up to expectations (and nobody was more initially bullish than S&G<\/em>), Scott and lawmakers are clearly willing to wager the bird in their hands on the off chance of two in the bush.<\/p>\n

An amusing footnote<\/strong> to the story is the speculation that, in addition to Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, Wynn Resorts<\/strong>, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and newly flush Genting Bhd<\/strong>, another company that “could come up with the cash” is Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>. The ex-Harrah’s can’t even scare up the money to finish its Octavius Tower <\/strong>at Caesars Palace<\/strong>. Going against Adelson in Florida is going to require a lot more spare change than Gary Loveman<\/strong> can muster from sweating comps and narrowing video poker paytables.<\/p>\n

\"\"Congratulations, Singapore!<\/strong> As of Feb. 17, you’ll have a new, eco-friendly museum courtesy of Sheldon Adelson. That’s a feather in the city-state’s cap. It’s also cold comfort to the burghers of Bethlehem<\/strong>, Pennsylvania<\/strong>, who were promised a museum of their own by Adelson, lo these many years ago. In Bethlehem they’re waiting … and waiting … and waiting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s amazing what a transformative effect a night’s stay at Venelazzo will have. After stopping by Sheldon Adelson‘s little pied-a-terre, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (left) has done a 180 on casino expansion in Florida. Now Scott, refreshed by an evening’s … 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":[28,14,26,36,120,7,69,95,33,111,12,108,32,31,9,19,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512"}],"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=5512"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20685,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5512\/revisions\/20685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}