The developer of a massive project in downtown Miami is quietly considering a campaign to amend Florida's Constitution to allow Las Vegas-style casinos in the city and open the door for a similar casino at Miami Beach's famed Fontainebleau Hotel.
A political committee financed by Marc Roberts, who along with Art Falcone is developing the 25-acre Miami Worldcenter, has spent more than $850,000, hired 13 petition gathering companies and has lawyers working to write an initiative for possible placement on the 2010 ballot.
A key selling point: taxes on the new casinos would go to benefit all Florida schools, just like the successful slots initiative before it.
According to drafts of the petition language obtained by The Miami Herald, the committee is considering three amendments, two of which are designed to appeal to the existing parimutuel companies in Miami-Dade and Broward by asking voters to give them the same games as the Seminole Tribe and lower their tax rate.
A draft of the proposed casino amendment allows for Class III gambling, including craps, keno, roulette, blackjack and slot machines, to be played at any of these sites: existing parimutuels in Miami Dade or Broward, a Miami location that is ''bounded by Northeast 11th Street, Biscayne Boulevard, Northeast Sixth Street and North Miami Avenue,'' and at a hotel in Miami Beach that has ''over 800 lodging rooms'' when the amendment is passed.
The Fontainebleau, with roughly 1,200 rooms, is the only Miami Beach hotel that would qualify, according to the Miami-Dade tourism bureau.
To become law, the amendments would have to be approved by 60 percent of Florida voters statewide, and the tax-related amendment would need 66 percent approval. In the past, gambling amendments have had a tough time, even before the law was changed to require they reach the 60 percent threshold.
Michael Caputo, spokesman for Roberts' group, the Committee for Critical Challenges, acknowledged that they are looking into the feasibility of offering casino games as well as other ambitious projects, such as an aquarium or an international trading center for energy credits at Miami Worldcenter.
''We've got plenty of money to do what needs to be done and we are clearly armed for the battle,'' he said. ``If we did not look at gaming in downtown Miami we would be remiss.''
If successful, the campaign would put a casino in the middle of Miami Worldcenter, a mixed-use development proposed for nine blocks in downtown's Park West neighborhood. The multiphase project is slated to first include hotels, shops, restaurants and entertainment components -- and later, offices and residences.
City commissioners are currently considering a zoning change for the development and an agreement that would cement the changes for the next 20 years.
But the prospect of a political campaign to push for a casino has been kept so secret that even the project's managing director, Nitin Motwani, said he didn't know about it until The Miami Herald told him Thursday. Motwani said he believes the project will go forward as planned.
E-Mail
Print
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@