Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 | 11:25 a.m.
Group to conduct first meeting, approve timeline
The nine-member Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling, created by Gov. Kenny Guinn to allocate casino tax money to help compulsive gamblers, will hold its first meeting Oct. 6 in Las Vegas to approve its bylaws and set funding priorities.
The group, which came into being after legislation signed into law during the 2005 session, will adopt problem gambling regulations Nov. 7 after a workshop and public hearing. The committee will accept applications for funds Dec. 23 and make recommendations for funding Jan. 20. Final grant agreements will be made later in January, and the grants are expected to be awarded to problem gambling treatment and education groups by Feb. 1.
Appellate court: Pari-mutuels can install slot machines
MIAMI -- A state appeals court has agreed that four Broward County pari-mutuels are not restricted from installing slot machines while awaiting state and county guidelines regulating their usage.
An attorney representing those facilities, though, said they will likely wait until the Florida Legislature writes laws regulating slots. But the pari-mutuels are prepared to go ahead with installation if lawmakers do not enact those regulations, attorney Tom Julin said Thursday.
On Wednesday the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a Broward circuit court decision allowing the pari-mutuels to install the equipment without state parameters in place.
Broward voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing the slot machines last November. Broward would become the state's only county, apart from Indian reservations, where slot machines are permitted.
Supporters say slots will create thousands of jobs and bring hundreds of millions of dollars annually into schools. Detractors insist slot machines won't necessarily help schools, and that additional gaming will spur crime and other social ills, plus hurt tourism.
Buddy Jacobs, an attorney who represents Broward State Attorney Michael J. Satz, said the state is appealing Wednesday's decision.
"For them to bring in the slots, they do so at their own risk," Jacobs said, referring to the four pari-mutuel facilities -- Gulfstream Park, Pompano Park, Dania Jai-Alai and Hollywood Greyhound Track.
Julin said the pari-mutuels remain hopeful that lawmakers will draft legislation soon, but the calling of a special session for the slots issue this fall seems unlikely. Broward commissioners could receive draft copies of the slot regulations at a workshop Nov. 1.
Tribal casinos rake in $1.5 billion for year
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The 22 Indian casinos in Arizona generated more than $1.5 billion in gaming profits during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the Arizona Department of Gaming's annual report.
During the same period, the casinos shared $65.3 million with the state. Indian tribes share casino revenue with the state under agreements spelled out in a 2002 law that allows them to operate casinos.
A little more than half of shared revenue goes to Arizona school districts and the rest goes to emergency services, tourism and programs for problem gamblers, with $8 million staying with the gaming department.
Tribes also can share 12 percent with cities or counties of their choice.
According to a gaming analyst, Arizona Indian casinos had the third-highest gross gambling revenue in the past year among the 30 states with Indian gambling.
Arizona Indian casinos rank just behind California's and Connecticut's in gambling revenue as well as revenue sharing with the states, said Alan Meister, an economist at the Analysis Group in Los Angeles.
Revenue sharing in Arizona works off a sliding formula that increases from 1 percent to 8 percent during the course of a tribe's fiscal year when specific dollar amounts are reached.
"The expansion of gaming with the new compact definitely gave Arizona a boost," Meister said.
Conventions company SMG, Harrah's team up on project
SINGAPORE -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. upped the stakes in its bid to build one of Singapore's two casinos by announcing it has teamed up with Philadelphia-based SMG, the world's largest operator of convention centers.
Singapore has said it requires an "integrated resort" for its casino complexes, due by 2009, that will be suitable for family entertainment, conventions and exhibitions. The casinos are part of a government initiative to boost tourism.
Harrah's had earlier teamed with local conglomerate Keppel.
"SMG is a strategic and valuable addition to our team on the Marina Bay integrated resort project to develop one of the world's leading convention destinations in Singapore," Harrah's senior vice president for business development, Richard Mirman, said in a statement late Thursday.
Harrah's is the world's second-largest gaming company while SMG manages 55 convention centers and 69 arenas globally.
Singapore has already twice delayed its bid for proposals -- which has attracted a host of international gaming companies like Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Wynn Resorts, Malaysia's Genting Bhd. and Australia's Tabcorp.
The projects are worth billions.
The government said it needed more time to review feedback from proposers, indicating the difficulty of trying to attract such investments while insulating Singaporeans from possible harmful effects of gambling.
Minister for National Development Vivian Balakrishnan said the delay would not push the launch date back.
Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn had earlier called the government's direct involvement in the planning of the casino "unsophisticated" and said officials were "issuing thunderbolts from the top of Mount Olympus."
Lawyer says settlement reached in casino lawsuit
MILWAUKEE -- Ousted investors in Nii-Jii Entertainment have agreed to pay $7.75 million to fellow investors in the casino-development firm to settle a lawsuit over a failed effort to develop an Indian casino in Kenosha, their attorney says.
Thomas Devine, the lawyer for defendants Morgan Murphy Jr., Morgan Murphy III, Robert D. Boyle and the trio's Chicago law firm, said Wednesday they agreed to the deal to avoid prolonged litigation.
Nii-Jii was created to develop a casino for the Menominee tribe at the site of the Dairyland Greyhound Park race track, but the proposal was withdrawn in 2001.
A hearing on the settlement is scheduled next Wednesday before Racine County Circuit Judge Gerald Ptacek.
Ptacek's approval is needed to finalize the $7.75 million payout, which would go to Nii-Jii lawyers, creditors and more than 20 original Nii-Jii partners, according to court records.
A jury last spring awarded more than $242 million to Nii-Jii and the group of investors. It found that the Murphys and Boyle had committed securities fraud, mail fraud, theft, embezzlement and racketeering as they concealed the past business links between Murphy Jr. and two people described in the civil complaint as having a "notorious and unsavory reputation" for their involvement in an unrelated kickback scheme.
Boyle and the two Murphys were not charged criminally in the Nii-Jii deal.
Murphy Jr., his son and Boyle have grave concerns about the fairness of the verdict, but do not want to risk losing on appeal, Devine said.
The Menominee tribe is now working with another group on a proposal for a Kenosha casino complex.
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