Genting Gambles in Florida with Uncertain Outcomes

Genting Gambles in Florida with Uncertain Outcomes

A rendering of 1 portion of the proposed Resorts World Miami Genting casino resort project; the $3 billion project nevertheless hasn’t received a sign that is high Florida lawmakers.

They state money speaks, but in Genting Resorts World’s case, it’s perhaps not been speaking as loudly as the ongoing business might like.

Despite pouring $236 million in to a 14-acre waterfront Miami distribute back last year and then sprinkling millions more into pressuring state politicians to ‘adapt’ a construction legislation to accommodate a new $3 billion Resorts World Miami casino project, the Asian gambling conglomerate has largely met with nothing but resistance. Therefore they’ve now determined for a new, less direction that is cumbersome the Sunshine State: a slots-only task that would pair them up with Gulfstream Park racetrack in Miami’s Key Biscayne area.

Antagonists Await

Of course, anytime a potential casino that is new turns up in a state, the first thing that happens is some sort of anti-gaming coalition forms; and Florida has been no exception to that particular rule. Anti-casino group NoCasino.org is also releasing a movie mid-January called Pushing Luck that claims to show a ‘sobering glimpse’ of ‘broken claims’ from casino operators.
According to Genting’s new partner Gulfstream, the racetrack myfreepokies.com holds an as-yet-unused gaming license that gets the potential for use in either Miami-Dade or Broward counties, as the track rests just between the two areas. Gulfstream also brought home this time last summer time with a three-horse event that occurred on their property, which happens to just go over the Broward county line into Miami-Dade.
But the big event may have backfired, as Florida video gaming commissioners later filed a complaint contrary to the race track for said event, so the certification issue remains uncertain, and unsupported by the abilities that could require to approve it. The proposed Genting project would also break precedent, as so far, only Native American tribes have been able to offer slots without a actual racetrack on the property.
With horse racing still an important aspect of Florida’s economy, the new pairing created a creative providing to tempt both lawmakers and regulators to bless their new union; Genting and Gulfstream state they would share some of their profits with Florida’s breeders, trainers and owners, an offer that sits mighty well with all the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. FTHA CEO Lonny Powell has even gone so far as to state this makes it a ‘game-changing’ deal, saying ‘this is the first partnership where the income stream and investment would actually get back to the horses.’

Two-Hour Tours

Up until now, Genting was offering only ‘cruises to nowhere’ in most cases, thrice-daily sailings between Miami and the business’s Resorts World Bimini casino in the nearby Bahamas, which conveniently rests only 50 miles off the Sunshine State’s coastline. During the two-hour trips, fast-acting gamblers could play any games they wanted to on board, and that included sports betting; in exchange for that business possibility, Genting is always to cough up $11 million to get towards fixing up Miami’s ports, plus an annual $7 million fee that is rental will extend for at least the next ten years.
A wrench was thrown into the time and evening cruise excursions year that is late last however, when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Genting these were only to use U.S.-based employees on the trips. a battle that is legal; but Genting ultimately had to concede, as maritime laws and regulations that will apply to other Miami-based cruiselines apparently usually do not apply if the ship does perhaps not actually dock in a foreign slot and doesn’t need passenger passports, either.
With that choice, Genting cut back on its cruise operations out of Miami, saying they can not pay for to make a crew that is all-american.
And that isn’t all of the issues that have actually plagued the day-trippers either; pier issues in Bimini have meant Genting has to anchor off-shore and then ferry groups that are small and forth, a reality that do not only consumes up time and manpower, but has proved to be unpleasant for passengers in inclement weather.
Despite all these hurdles and projected losses of $11 million for 2014 Genting is apparently not thinking about getting away from the day cruise business. And clearly, regardless of how stormy the seas, they plan to stay the course in Florida, one way or another.

Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State

A lot of people think about Maine like this, but a small casino contingent is trying to hold their own there because well. (Image: Katarina Neef/atpm.com)

We possibly may not agree we know there are plenty of reasons that people may oppose more gambling in their state, from moral objections to worries about problem gambling with them, but. However in Maine, gambling is finding an unusual opponent: the gambling enterprises on their own.

Read Our Lips: No New Casinos

Officials from the two Maine casinos currently in operation talked to lawmakers this and said that they shouldn’t approve any expansion of the casino industry in the state week. In this situation, it would appear that the casinos think that industry in the state is wholly saturated already while others believe they’re simply afraid of a competition that is little.

The two properties under consideration the Hollywood and Oxford Casinos encountered off in front of the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs against members of two Native American tribes in the state, as well as the owner of the Scarborough Downs race track, over a number of bills that would serve to expand Maine’s gambling options.

Probably the most controversial of those is called LD 1111. It would allow Scarborough Downs to become a ‘racino,’ operating slot machines with their horse that is current racing. That issue has already been brought to referendum in 2011, when it received only 45 percent of the vote statewide.

Factional Battles

According to track owner Sharon Terry, Scarborough Downs is struggling due to the competition it faces from the casinos into the state particularly Oxford Casino, which is just 45 minutes away and opened in 2012 june. Even though Hollywood Casino may be further away, it features a companion racino, and can offer everything Scarborough Downs can and more.

Terry says that revenues fell 21.8 percent at her track since slots were allowed at the Bangor battle track, and that the situation gets a whole lot worse considering that the opening of the Oxford Casino. The cut in revenue not only threatens the track, but also Maine’s entire horse racing industry since Scarborough Downs is responsible for 101 days of racing each year.

‘The Downs cannot endure under the current laws,’ Terry said.

However, the general supervisors of both gambling enterprises in addition to several companies within the Oxford area disagreed, opposing slots that are allowing the Scarborough Downs facility. In general, the casinos feel that any new gambling in hawaii threatens to ‘cannibalize the industry,’ as Maine is a relatively small state without enough gamblers to support more venues.

That helps explain why additionally they opposed three other bills being considered by hawaii. Those incorporate a bill that would allow charities to run up to five slots at their headquarters to be able to raise funds, as well as two bills that would allow Indian tribes to expand their gambling operations: one that would let the Houlton Band of Maliseets to operate slots and table games, and another that could let the Passamaquoddy Tribe apply to run table games and slots at a bingo facility that is existing.

‘Should further facilities available or expand, we would see erosion that is further of consumer base,’ said John Osborne, general manager of the Hollywood Casino.

Big Banks Refuse to Process Legal Online Gambling Transactions

Major charge card issuers like Chase, Wells Fargo and United states Express won’t process even legal on the web gambling transactions, they say. (Image: Jason Hindley/money.cnn.com)

Everything seemed therefore hunky dory: Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey all got legal online gambling or at poker that is least, in Nevada’s case up and running in 2013, and with the exception of a few issues with geo-location snafus, overall, the internet sites in all three states have actually been operating pretty smoothly. Except for just one fairly major bug that has nothing at all to do with the sites by themselves: major economic organizations like American Express, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase are refusing to process any cash interactions on these web sites, legal or otherwise not.

Your Transaction Is Denied

Whether credit or debit, several card that is heavy-hitter say they are not gambling regarding honoring their cards on Internet video gaming internet sites. And demonstrably, that’s not sitting well with many players who say, just what gives? But the banks included say they’ll not budge, not for online gambling enterprises, poker or sports that are even legal in Nevada.

‘We never let credit card transactions for this activity,’ said Steve O’Halloran, director of advertising and public affairs for Chase Card and Merchant Services. And American Express spokeswoman Sanette Chao concurs, saying her business simply ‘prohibits the use of the card for gambling services.’

While some may conclude that this really is some type of moral imperative, it works out that it is more of a bottom-line that is simple choice than anything else.

‘Gambling services, historically, account for a number that is high of user credit losses and customer service disputes,’ noted Chao.

UIGEA Still Directs Banks’ Positions

And some banking institutions do still hold onto the old UIGEA model (illegal online Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), because, after all, from the federal standpoint, it is still murky exactly how it is to be interpreted after a 2012 reinterpretation of the first 1961 Wire Act ended up being handed down from the Supreme Court that opened the entranceway to at state-by-state that is least lawful Internet gambling.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Natalie Brown says that is the reasoning behind her company’s decision to decline gambling deposits.

‘In compliance with regulation GG (illegal Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), we prohibit the use of consumer credit cards for Web gambling,’ said Brown, who is vice president of customer financing communications with Wells Fargo. ‘The companies (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) monitor the merchant category codes and block fees that do not adhere to federal regulations.’

While this may earn some feeling from their views, it may prove a reality that is frustrating online players in legal gambling states.

‘What the industry has done is take a conservative approach or a reaction to the legalization of online gambling,’ said Tobin Prior, CEO of Ultimate Gaming, which is really a subsidiary of Station Casinos, a land-gaming proprietor in Nevada and the first to ever go online with legal poker into the Silver State. ‘That can be frustrating, but we work with customers to locate options.’

Certainly one of some great benefits of this brick-and-mortar/Internet symbiosis is that clients can both fund and cash down at any of the land gaming properties, in either Southern Nevada or at Station’s land video gaming partner the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Players can also use e-checks or wire transfers to make deposits, Prior noted.

While legal websites might wish that banks were more in their court right now, Caesars WSOP site’s spokesperson Seth Palansky states it’s what it really is.