Genting America

At a public forum on Monday, Genting dismissed previous reports that it wanted to build the largest casino the world has ever seen. According to the Malaysian company, it’s only the gambling floor that would thrash any size records, being one of the largest in the United States. That’s if Florida changes its gambling laws.

Its plans to be the biggest may have been dropped, but Genting say the resort is set to thrash records in projected revenue. The company issued a statement yesterday stating that a high-end casino resort “in an international city like Miami will attract the world’s highest-calibre tourists.”

As a report by the Miami Herlald reveals, Genting commissioned economic studies for its proposed beast, which shows it could generate as much as $2 billion a year. This sort of figure would place the resort the largest-grossing casino in the United States, even above the highest-grossing casinos in Vegas.

Miami economist hired to help write one of the economic studies, Tony Villamil, said the final results were on hold as Genting rethinks the size of the project. He said: “They’re willing to accommodate the community. The economic impacts are going to change depending on the size of the project.”

Nevertheless, according to industry reports and analysts in the economic studies, the casino wouldn’t be as big or as profitable as its resorts in Asian markets.

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After closed sessions during a commission meeting at Mulvane’s city council chambers, the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (the agency that regulates state-owned casinos) granted the casino a conditional certificate to hold a controlled demonstration on Friday. That’s an invitation-only gambling with real money, apparently.

The conditional certificate was approved by Commissioners after a two-hour tour of the interim Kansas Star facility, soon to be a multipurpose events and equestrian centre when its permanent casino opens in a year.

In a report by Kansas City Star, commission chairman, William Falstad, said: “It’s really going to be a very smooth transition when the time comes. It’s going to be a beautiful operation over there. I think it’s really something the way they’re doing that, because it really looks beautiful right now.”

Commissioner Jay Shadwick added: “I’m just amazed at what they’re doing and what they’re going to accomplish.”

The Kansas Star must successfully complete at least one controlled demonstration to prove it is fit to open. Another controlled demonstration will be held 20 December if anything goes wrong during Friday’s demonstration.

The nation’s highest court – the Supreme Court – has agreed to hear arguments over a lawsuit which aims to shut down Michigan’s Gun Lake Tribe’s casino in Allegan County’s Wayland Township. The Supreme Court will decide on whether that lawsuit can move forward. 

In a report by WoodTV, Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University’s College of Law, Matthew Fletcher, said: “It’s unusual.”

Oh. Okay.

Well, he didn’t only say that, he also said what’s strange about it is the willingness of the Supreme Court to take up a petition from a tribe looking to overturn the ruling of a lower federal court. “When that does happen, it’s a big change,” he added.

The decision to hear the case may indicate the justices are looking to reverse the lower court’s ruling, the professor said.

Billionaire car mogul, Norman Braman, was among many at the Miami-Dade College campus in downtown Miami for a forum yesterday, which saw discussions over the idea of bringing casino-style resorts to Miami.

At the meeting he said expressed his strong oppositions to the idea, but those in support of the gambling said these casinos will bring thousands of jobs to the area. Jobs for all!

In a report by WSVN.com, Vice President of the Las Vegas Sands, Andrew Abboud, said: “This is a regulatory process and a cleaning up process where you get the best of the gaming industry, not the worst of the gaming industry.”

The bill currently in Tallahassee created by the Florida Gaming Commission, which if passed would regulate resort-style gaming in the state. It’s now in the hands of city leaders and citizens and whether they’d support the idea.

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What the complex will look like

Genting Malaysia Bhd has revealed more details about their upcoming project on Miami’s waterfront. Resorts World Miami is costing the casino business operator around $3billion and will turn the former newspaper HQ into a haven of entertainment. Included on the site will be four hotels, two residential towers and a 3.6-acre rooftop lagoon. There will even be a full-fledged casino on the fourth floor as long as the state approves gaming industry law changes.

Genting Malaysia Chairman Lim Kok Thay said in a statement, “Resorts World Miami will accelerate Florida’s evolution as a global destination.”

The 10million square-foot venue sits on a 13.9acre site and offers 5,200 hotel rooms in addition to 1,000 residential units. That’s before you consider the convention centre, shopping, some 50 restaurants, nightclubs and the USA’s largest ballroom. Gamblin’ drinkin’ and carryin’ on along the Miami bay front sounds like our kind of fun.

A casino gracing the venue’s third and fourth floors hinges on Florida changing its gaming laws to accommodate a fully-fledged casino. An appeal was heard last week that was seeking to overturn a ruling to allow slot machines all over the state. If approved, it would pave the way for a casino to be built on the Miami site.

If the state does decide to change the state law regarding slot machines then they will find themselves in a similar situation to New York state. Any changes would void the agreements they have set up with tribal groups and mean the annual payment from groups, such as the Seminoles, will simply stop – as has happened in New York.

That is another state that Genting has a presence in after they decided to acquire the Aqueduct racetrack earlier this year and turn it into what is now know as Resorts World Casino New York City.

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However, there’s been no shortage of attempts to change Florida law to permit ‘destination resort casinos,’ and Genting’s arrival has “upped the ante,” according to Nick Iarossi, a lobbyist for Las Vegas Sands Corp. Sands boss Sheldon Adelson met with Gov. Rick Scott just two weeks after Scott won office last November, pledging to invest up to $3b on a Miami resort casino project, but legislation that would have permitted such development died in Florida’s Senate in April.

Casino firms spent big bucks to lobby Florida’s politicians on behalf of this failed effort. Las Vegas Sands, which spent only $35k lobbying in Q1 2010, pushed that figure to $135k in Q1 2011. Las Vegas billionaire Phillip Ruffin, who owns the Treasure Island casino, spent $300k in the same period. Genting and Wynn Resorts also splashed out. But Florida’s Seminole Tribe, which holds a monopoly on table games in the state, spent $140k to push back against the outside casino interlopers. Racino and dog-track owners also spent six-figure sums to keep their own slot machines competition-free.

So where does Gov. Scott sit on all this? On one hand, he just vetoed a proposed $400k cost/benefit study of bringing ‘destination resorts’ to Florida, but in the same breath, encouraged the Legislature “to make a comprehensive review of additional gaming… a full consideration of the positive economic impact, the costs that may result from this policy, and the impact on current gaming in our state.” Okay, then why did you just veto a study that would have done exactly that? “Such a study at this time is an expense Florida taxpayers should not incur.” So, Scott wants the Legislature to conduct a study, but doesn’t want to pay for it. Seriously, if you ever needed an example of why America’s finances are in such horrendous shape, look no further.

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Check out the CalvinAyre.com photo gallery for more pictures of Super Bowl 2010 adventures.

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