KUALA LUMPUR: The Genting group is dead serious about the potential of its casino resort plan in sunny Miami, so much so that it is willing to buy 50% of seats to make direct flights happen from Asia to Miami.
If Miami can’t attract non-stop flights from Asia, Genting is “prepared to bankroll and subsidise some of the flights,” Colin Au, president of Genting Americas told The Miami Herald in an interview published on Oct 22.
“We will tell China Eastern or Air China that we will guarantee 50% of the seats,” said Au, who is reportedly on a mission to meet every one of Florida’s 180 legislators. And he is prepared to lobby “24/7 for 100 days” — being the run-up to the state’s upcoming legislative sitting which starts Jan 12, 2012.
It is Genting’s belief that Florida can create a US$4 billion (RM12.5 billion) to US$6 billion resort casino market supporting some 100,000 permanent jobs by appealing to international tourists and high rollers from other states in the US, like “New Yorkers with thousands” to throw on the table “not the little old lady in Hialeah with US$25”.
The plan, Au said, is to capture one third of the estimated 13 million (US) East Coast tourists who visit Las Vegas and some 80% to 90% of the Hispanic market on the East Coast. High stakes gamblers from the East Coast and Texas lured away from Las Vegas could help rake in some US$1 billion to US$2 billion revenue. And those flights Genting is prepared to fill up go to aid the expected US$1 billion to US$2 billion potential receipts that could come from Asian tourists, with contributions expected also from Latin America.
Citing preliminary results of an economic impact study done by consultants Genting hired, Au said annual casino tax revenue could be anything between US$400 million to US$600 million, assuming a 10% tax rate.
Those so-called “export model” numbers were drawn up based on Genting’s experience in Singapore, Au reportedly said, where the destination resort market had grown 41% over two years. More importantly, gaming tax revenue was US$6 billion, most from tourists with residents discouraged from gambling by a government-imposed S$100 (RM247) levy per day.
The bill to expand casino gaming in Florida was expected to be filed on Monday, a slight delay from the original Oct 17 target, The Miami Herald report read.
Au compared Florida’s decision to that made by Singapore’s minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who in 2005 determined the time had come to do away with the ban on casinos and allow the building of two casino resorts to stimulate the city state’s economy.
“The key thing for Florida is to decide what I call the Lee Kuan Yew moment,” Au reportedly said. “At the end of the day, we are a sin industry and the most important thing is to make the economic development benefits far outweigh anything else,” he said, adding that Miami should build on its strengths. “God, or nature, has given Miami the weather, location, stability and the crossroads of three continents.”
Au said Genting has begun reassuring local retailers and hotel owners that the group wants to work alongside them, and not against them, but concedes there will be resistance. Among lead opponents of expanding gaming in Florida are reportedly Walt Disney World and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, whose chairman is from Disney. Genting’s pitch also isn’t going down well with representative Steve Precourt, a Republican from theme-park rich Orlando and chairman of the House Finance and Tax Committee. Precourt reckons Genting’s attempt to lure convention business to Miami could be a zero-sum game as it saps neighbouring Orlando’s “bread-and-butter convention business” and “takes huge profits out of the community”.
If Au is worried there is a lot riding on him being able to swing legislative votes to Genting’s favour, he isn’t sweating. “Don’t feel sorry for us,”’ he told the Miami Herald. “We think this land [Genting bought] is going to appreciate. So if they take three years to do it, so be it.”
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 25, 2011.
If Miami can’t attract non-stop flights from Asia, Genting is “prepared to bankroll and subsidise some of the flights,” Colin Au, president of Genting Americas told The Miami Herald in an interview published on Oct 22.
“We will tell China Eastern or Air China that we will guarantee 50% of the seats,” said Au, who is reportedly on a mission to meet every one of Florida’s 180 legislators. And he is prepared to lobby “24/7 for 100 days” — being the run-up to the state’s upcoming legislative sitting which starts Jan 12, 2012.
It is Genting’s belief that Florida can create a US$4 billion (RM12.5 billion) to US$6 billion resort casino market supporting some 100,000 permanent jobs by appealing to international tourists and high rollers from other states in the US, like “New Yorkers with thousands” to throw on the table “not the little old lady in Hialeah with US$25”.
The plan, Au said, is to capture one third of the estimated 13 million (US) East Coast tourists who visit Las Vegas and some 80% to 90% of the Hispanic market on the East Coast. High stakes gamblers from the East Coast and Texas lured away from Las Vegas could help rake in some US$1 billion to US$2 billion revenue. And those flights Genting is prepared to fill up go to aid the expected US$1 billion to US$2 billion potential receipts that could come from Asian tourists, with contributions expected also from Latin America.
Citing preliminary results of an economic impact study done by consultants Genting hired, Au said annual casino tax revenue could be anything between US$400 million to US$600 million, assuming a 10% tax rate.
Those so-called “export model” numbers were drawn up based on Genting’s experience in Singapore, Au reportedly said, where the destination resort market had grown 41% over two years. More importantly, gaming tax revenue was US$6 billion, most from tourists with residents discouraged from gambling by a government-imposed S$100 (RM247) levy per day.
The bill to expand casino gaming in Florida was expected to be filed on Monday, a slight delay from the original Oct 17 target, The Miami Herald report read.
Au compared Florida’s decision to that made by Singapore’s minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who in 2005 determined the time had come to do away with the ban on casinos and allow the building of two casino resorts to stimulate the city state’s economy.
“The key thing for Florida is to decide what I call the Lee Kuan Yew moment,” Au reportedly said. “At the end of the day, we are a sin industry and the most important thing is to make the economic development benefits far outweigh anything else,” he said, adding that Miami should build on its strengths. “God, or nature, has given Miami the weather, location, stability and the crossroads of three continents.”
Au said Genting has begun reassuring local retailers and hotel owners that the group wants to work alongside them, and not against them, but concedes there will be resistance. Among lead opponents of expanding gaming in Florida are reportedly Walt Disney World and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, whose chairman is from Disney. Genting’s pitch also isn’t going down well with representative Steve Precourt, a Republican from theme-park rich Orlando and chairman of the House Finance and Tax Committee. Precourt reckons Genting’s attempt to lure convention business to Miami could be a zero-sum game as it saps neighbouring Orlando’s “bread-and-butter convention business” and “takes huge profits out of the community”.
If Au is worried there is a lot riding on him being able to swing legislative votes to Genting’s favour, he isn’t sweating. “Don’t feel sorry for us,”’ he told the Miami Herald. “We think this land [Genting bought] is going to appreciate. So if they take three years to do it, so be it.”
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 25, 2011.
