Florida gambling regulators on Thursday refused to sign off on the sale of Magic City Casino, one of the state鈥檚 oldest pari-mutuels, to the Poarch Creek Indians, bowing to objections that the public needs to know more about the transaction before final action is taken.
But the Florida Gaming Control Commission, which was created in 2021, could authorize the transfer of ownership before the end of the year, as requested by the pari-mutuel鈥檚 lawyer, John Lockwood.
The Havenick family has operated the Miami casino since 1931, when gambling was at its heyday in Florida. The casino includes a cardroom and slot machines.
Magic City鈥檚 owner --- West Flagler Associates, Ltd. --- is seeking permission to sell for an undisclosed sum the casino鈥檚 permit to Wind Creek Miami, LLC, a 鈥渨holly owned subsidiary鈥� of PCI Gaming Authority, Inc., which is owned by the Alabama-based Poarch Creeks, according to an application posted on the commission website.
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All but two pages of the 103-page application were redacted. Thursday鈥檚 meeting agenda also included a four-page memorandum written by commission staff members recommending approval of the license transfer.
But John Sowinski, president of the advocacy group No Casinos Inc., urged the commission to postpone a decision until the public had an opportunity to more closely scrutinize the deal in what will be one of the panel鈥檚 first major tests.
The commission was established 鈥渢o really elevate the public discussion and bring out in the forefront these types of decisions that are made about the gambling industry in our state,鈥� Sowinski said.
鈥淭he public should have the ability to see and kick the tires of everything that is not truly, truly a trade secret,鈥� he said, noting that 鈥�94 percent鈥� of the application鈥檚 contents were shielded from public view.
But Lockwood argued that the deal could fall apart if it isn鈥檛 completed before the end of the year.
鈥淭his is such a simple and narrow transaction. I had no idea it was going to become such a hotly discussed topic at this commission,鈥� he said.
Lockwood said he has worked closely since August with commission staff members on the application, which regulators would have approved or rejected behind closed doors before creation of the panel.
The redactions were intended to ensure 鈥渢here鈥檚 no inadvertent dissemination of documents鈥� that are off-limits to the public, such as trade secrets, which are exempt from the state鈥檚 broad open-records laws, according to Lockwood.
鈥淚鈥檓 not taking the position that every single thing that we submitted to this commission is trade secret,鈥� he said, pledging to work with the commission and its staff 鈥渢o provide a less-redacted document.鈥�
鈥淏ut again, I would implore the commission to not delay this transaction into next year because I do have fears as to what that would involve for this entire deal,鈥� he said.
But commission Chairman John MacIver said he was concerned about complying with the state鈥檚 Sunshine Law, while noting there鈥檚 likely nothing that would be 鈥渓egitimately objectionable鈥� in the application.
鈥淚f there is an over-redaction of material that the public has not had an opportunity to consider prior to us taking action, I think it would be inappropriate for us to take action at this time,鈥� MacIver said.
The chairman told Lockwood the commission could meet again this month to consider the issue.
PCI is the parent company of two businesses that already have permits to operate pari-mutuel facilities in Pensacola and Gretna, a Gadsden County community west of Tallahassee.
The proposed license transfer is limited to gambling operations at Magic City, which for decades offered greyhound racing. A 2018 constitutional amendment ended greyhound racing in the state. The Havenicks鈥� other gambling operations --- a summer jai-alai and cardroom permit in Miami and a cardroom in Bonita Springs --- will not be affected.
But the purchase of Magic City would vastly expand Poarch Creek鈥檚 footprint in Florida.
Wind Creek Hospitality, which is owned by the Poarch Creeks, in 2019 purchased a Bethlehem, Pa. casino from Las Vegas Sands for $1.3 billion. Wind Creek also owns gambling facilities in Alabama, Chicago, Nevada, Aruba and Curacao.
Lockwood said the delay, which affects hundreds of employees, could kill the deal.
鈥淎s everyone鈥檚 aware, the global economic markets are volatile, to say the least,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we have this issue beyond this commission meeting and in the next calendar year, I don鈥檛 know what that means for this transaction. Quite frankly, we thought we had everything, and we鈥檝e been preparing and we鈥檙e ready to close.鈥�
But Marc Dunbar, an attorney with the Dean Mead law firm who represents the Seminole Tribe of Florida, encouraged the commission to proceed with caution. The transfer of a slot-machines license is more complicated than some other gaming-related permit transfers, Dunbar said, and the commission鈥檚 process for handling the Magic City sale could set a precedent for future changes in ownership of pari-mutuels.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about necessarily having a bunch of people looking over the staff, it鈥檚 just so that the public knows what the vetting went through and so people that are coming in next know what the process is and what the statutes mean,鈥� Dunbar said.
Lockwood, however, said third parties don鈥檛 have the legal authority to intervene or object to changes of ownership.
鈥淭his gamesmanship with these issues of trying to come in and delay action, I believe could cause serious ramifications and set a very bad precedent for how this commission was originally intended to (be) set up,鈥� he said.
MacIver said the suggestion about gamesmanship 鈥渨as not lost on me.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to get back into the, shall we say, environment where all of the stakeholders in this industry are at each other鈥檚 throats, again,鈥� he said.
