Las Vegas Weekly

March 31, 2009 · 12:29 PM

Florida makes a move to become Las Vegas-ish

By Sarah Feldberg

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

There are only two positive numbers on the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority’s list of gaming and tourism percentage changes from January 2008 to January 2009: Room inventory was up 5.8 percent and the average daily auto traffic on 1nterstate 15 at the Nevada/California border was up 2.6 percent.

The rest of the list, meanwhile, headed in the opposite direction. Visitor volume for January was down 11.9 percent; hotel occupancy was down 13 percent and gaming revenue for Clark County dropped 16.3 percent. Scanning the statistical breakdown is like a punch to the face, everywhere you look the numbers hit you and everywhere that matters they’re trending down.

So, when the Sun-Sentinel suggests that new bills in the Florida House and Senate could turn Florida into a “mini-Las Vegas,” it’s hard to imagine why at this particular moment they’d call that a good thing.

Yet, last Wednesday the Senate Regulated Industries Committee in Florida spent less than half an hour passing a plan that would allow Florida’s Seminole casinos to add craps and roulette to their gaming pits while continuing to offer blackjack, baccarat, no-limit poker and slots, taking the state one step closer to reproducing the resorts and casinos that have, until recently, thrived so relentlessly on the Las Vegas Strip.

In our moment of weakness, is Florida trying to cash in the on the industry that has kept Nevada afloat and steal away our visitors to their beachy coastlines? What, with no Cirque shows? No casino war?

According to Republican Sen. Dennis Jones, who chairs the committee, the answer is, more or less, yes. Jones said the added games would make Florida a “tourist destination for gaming. And let’s face it: We’re already a gaming state. With the lottery, with cruises to nowhere, with pari-mutuels that have been here 75 years, don’t kid yourself: We’re a gaming state. So why wouldn’t you want to become the cream of the crop?”

If it seems that Jones makes an obvious point, consider that his gaming-friendly stance is a relatively new view for the Florida Legislature. The bill that Jones and his colleagues passed so quickly is just latest round in a bout between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state government over gaming interests that has lasted around 19 years. Until Gov. Charlie Crist took office in January 2007, the tribe had made little progress developing their casinos and increasing gaming options. However, within his first year as governor, Crist had negotiated a compact with the Seminole tribe to allow Class III games like blackjack, baccarat and Vegas-style slots in tribal casinos.

With approval from the Department of the Interior, which regulates gaming, the tribe made upgrades in their Hard Rock branded casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, as well as in a third property located in the impoverished city of Immokalee.

However, the expansion of gaming in tribal casinos hasn’t gone unchallenged. The Speaker of the House sued the Governor for signing the compact without consulting the assembly, and after the court ruled in his favor, the compact was termed invalid.

Which brings us to the current legislative session, launched March 1, during which both houses of the Florida senate are tackling the issue of gaming in Seminole casinos and taking positions that put them in direct opposition.

“The Senate bill would actually expand gaming and the House bill would eliminate table games,” explained Gary Bitner, spokesman for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. While he wouldn’t comment on the tribe’s reaction to the bills in either House, Bitner added, “It’s a significant accomplishment that both houses of the legislature are dealing with it as if a compact will happen. The concept of a compact has now been embraced by both Houses of the Legislature, which is a positive thing.”

Two thousand miles away from Tallahassee in Las Vegas that kind of optimism is hard to come by. Here, where we already have the “cream of the crop” in gaming and resort terms, a number of our city’s gaming giants are flailing. Station Casinos and Herbst Gaming have indicated that they will file for bankruptcy and companies that once seemed invincible, like MGM Mirage, Harrah’s Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands might be eying the benefits of filing for Chapter 11. Today, the historic Riviera casino suffered dramatic stock losses and announced it may need to file for bankruptcy protection.

“Everybody in every industry is looking at this time and just hanging on,” Bitner said. “It was very good timing for the Seminoles to improve their operations.”

The improvements that resulted from Crist’s compact have already been paying off.

“The new games have been hugely successful, both the slot machines and the table games. Clearly, Florida’s running counter to much of the rest of the country where gaming is declining. In Florida it’s growing and much of that revenue is attributed to the new games.”

Adding an array of new gambling options to the casino's once meager offerings of Class II games bingo and poker, would, of course, generate additional revenue. When asked to provide numerical statistics documenting their properties' growth, the Seminole tribe declined.

Still, as the news of layoffs, bankruptcy filings and the growing unemployment rate pile up in Las Vegas, it’s hard to imagine that gaming endeavors could be thriving anywhere else. Perhaps the 372,396 visitors missing from Vegas this January in comparison to last year went to Florida to play on their brand new tables instead of bunking at the Bellagio or watching the revamped Le Rêve at the Wynn.

Or not.

Historically, said Vince Alberta, Vice President of Public Affairs at the LVCVA, gaming expansions around the country and abroad have benefited Las Vegas.

"When gaming expanded in Jersey in the early 1980s people thought it would be the demise of gaming in Las Vegas. In fact, it was the opposite," Alberta recalled. The same goes for the gaming boom in Macau.

"As gaming has been introduced in other areas of the country and around the world, it has generated more exposure and more interest in Las Vegas," Alberta added.

And new gamblers likely to make the desert pilgrimage aren't the only reason Las Vegas has nothing to fear from expanded gaming in Florida. While a few of Florida’s tribal casinos have new Vegas-style games, they are ultimately gaming islands in a gambling-light state. “Vegas-style” remains the operative phrase. Even if some competition comes from the Seminole's Hard Rock Hotel properties, the Strip is still gaming ground zero. With Vegas’ newly lowered room rates and enticing peripheral offerings, it’s unlikely the Seminole tribe will be stealing Vegas business or that the humid swampland will become the next gaming Mecca.

"Las Vegas is the gaming capital of the world," Alberta summed up.

And that means even in Florida gaming development comes with an eye towards the west.

“The Hard Rock in Hollywood was designed so that if you picked it up and put it on the Strip it could compete,” Bitner said of the Seminole’s flagship property, which features a Hard Rock Live music venue, a slew of dining and drinking options and a small shopping center.

However, he admitted with a laugh, “It’s a stretch to say that Florida could ever be like Las Vegas.”

That’s right. Too many gators. Not enough buffets. No casino war.

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