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Inside Gaming: Challenge May Exist in Sunshine State

Florida, the land of the hanging chad, is likely to be the exception to all rules when it comes to gaming proliferation, hospitality-industry insiders are saying.

The consensus is that proliferation really has few implications, positive or negative, for Las Vegas. But some executives, responding to a recent Inside Gaming column, have chastised me for not noticing that Florida is likely to break all the rules and its casinos could someday compete with Las Vegas.Advertisement

The political climate is warming up to gaming, and recent election results make it clear Florida is ripe for the picking. Voters in Dade and Broward counties, who once opposed casinos, recently showed they were evenly mixed about nontribal gaming. Politicos, including Gov. Jeb Bush, who once opposed gaming, have become wishy-washy at most. And tribal operators agree expanded gaming, Las Vegas-style, is the likely outcome of what will be a prolonged debate.

Hospitality-industry insiders say simple demographics have also impelled gaming operators to start pushing in Florida like nowhere else, at least behind the scenes, for Vegas-style developments. As droves of baby boomers semiretire in the Sunshine State, the people of Florida are coming to fit the profile that gaming companies want: affluent, middle-aged, independent, vacation-oriented and risk-taking.

Add to that mix a developed hospitality industry. It's a truism nothing can compete with the Strip. Operators have almost $100 billion invested. Building a competitive destination, even in California, is an impossible undertaking.

But not in Florida, because it doesn't have to be built. Las Vegas may be the most popular vacation and convention destination of them all, but Miami and Orlando together are already competitive with Las Vegas in size and consumer interest.

One reason for the industry's interest in Las Vegas has been land values. Among key markets, Florida trails only Nevada and California for real estate appreciation. In the year ending last September, real estate appreciated 13 percent nationwide, but 36 percent in Nevada, 27 percent in California and 20 percent in Florida.

That's one of the reasons the hospitality industry has already focused on Florida. And it is another reason gaming and resort operators are likely to fixate on Florida.

Forget the riverboats of the Midwest, the dismal Biloxi coast and the dreary Jersey boardwalk. Florida already has what it takes to lure visitors, except for the slot machines in the casinos surrounded by the finest in dining, entertainment and retail outlets.

Forget building it and they will come. It's already there -- and so are they. The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. You can contact him by fax at 387-5243 or e-mail at rodneysmith1@cox.net.

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