Miami-Dade County is Suing Genting Over Huge Tax Breaks on Its Undeveloped Casino Land
Resorts World Miami
The situation with Resorts World Miami, a gigantic casino and resort proposed by Malaysian casino conglomerate Genting, has deteriorated from a glittering (although very controversial) development on Biscayne Bay in Downtown Miami, to a stagnant and mysterious project bogged down by legal obstacles and lawsuits. A suit that Genting filed against the county attempting to force through legalization of a casino is ongoing while the county has hit Genting with three separate suits arguing that the company has received unfair tax breaks and refunds, reports the Miami Herald.
The suits appear to correspond to the three years in which the county’s Value Adjustment Board granted the company substantial tax refunds (2012, 2013, and 2014) totaling about $2.5 million with $255,000 in interest. Unsurprisingly the county isn’t happy, but neither is Genting, which has counter-sued saying they believe the county inflated the assessed value to begin with. That assessed value, for 2012, was $132 million for the building and land that was the former bay front home of the Miami Herald and was to become Resorts World Miami. This was only slightly more than half of the $232 million the company paid for it. That same year, Genting was able to get that assessed value reduced from $132 million to a very impressively low $88 million. Meanwhile, without a casino, beyond a few empty promises Genting has shown little interest in building a resort of any kind on the site, and the land remains empty.
Now Genting is Resorting to a Confusing Lawsuit to Get Gambling at Resorts World Miami
Resorts World Miami
Malaysian casino conglomerate Genting is suing Miami-Dade County as well as state prosecutors in, as the Miami Herald puts it, “what appears to be a last-ditch effort to force the state to allow card games and slots at its property in the old Omni mall.” That might even be putting this latest tactic to legalize the planned Resorts World Miami mildly because the suit, which reeks of desperation from a company used to getting its way no matter what, is based on a novel and downright confusing legal tactic.
Based on reading and re-reading the Miami Herald’s coverage, here’s what we think is going on:
Genting has already failed multiple times to change Florida gambling laws and get a Downtown Miami casino legalized, most recently in the 2016 legislative session. But don’t worry, they still have a team of lobbyists up in Tallahassee on payroll.
In 2014 Genting entered into a partnership with Gulfstream Park Racetrack to operate their planned casino in Downtown Miami under Gulfstream’s gambling license.
Guflstream Park’s gambling license is limited to Broward County, where the horse race track is based. However, Gulfstream Park’s property straddles the county line, and a small southern leg of the track actually extends into Miami-Dade County.
Gulfstream and Genting have successfully held races on or near that southern leg, in Miami-Dade County. They held two short races in 2013 and got away with it, and claimed this meant they could conduct gambling operations in Miami-Dade County.
Fast forward to 2016 and Genting still says it moved Gulfstream’s gambling permit to Miami-Dade County even though regulators still say “Nope.”
Whether a five star casino or underground gambling racket, running an illegal gambling establishment is a criminal and not a civil charge.
With the current lawsuit, Genting is saying (again, paraphrasing) “We think we’ve already legally transferred the permit. Regardless of that, we don’t think regulators have the power to enforce criminal laws anyway. So, they shouldn’t be able to stop us.”
Seriously? Seriously??
After All That, is Genting Trying to Unload the Miami Herald Site?
The former Miami Herald Building site, owned by Genting. Photo by Phillip Pessar.
On the face of it, Malaysian casino conglomerate Genting‘s Miami dreams have been slow to materialize since setting up their Miami/Bimini operations around 2011, but does that mean Genting is ready to pack up and leave town? Will Resorts World Miami ever be a thing? According to the Miami Herald, Genting showed the former location of the Miami Herald Building to an unnamed real estate developer, apparently in a bid to flip it.
After spending nearly $500 million for the Miami Herald Building, the old Omni International Mall, the Boulevard Shops, and properties adjacent to the Miami School Board Headquarters, their plans to build literally the world’s biggest casino have all but bellyflopped. Having been denied the legal ability to build a casino at all, the company then announced plans to build a luxury mixed-use waterfront complex, demolished the old Miami Herald Building, and did pretty much nothing with the site (they are, however, renovating the historic Boulevard Shops). Since then rumors have swirled from various sources about what the company might be doing, and they have reportedly talked to developer Jorge Perez and soccer star/stadium builder David Beckham. None of those efforts, however, appeared to go anywhere. Although the company is still lobbying in Tallahassee to allow its casino plans to move forward, pulling out, by now, wouldn’t exactly be a huge surprise.
With a new hotel and more visitors, the Bimini operations appear to be doing better, although in January Genting took the newly renovated ‘Bimini Superfast’ boat out of service, at the time saying they planned to replace it with “a more efficient operation” sometime this spring.
