Edward Mangano: Taxpayers get benefits, no “burden of new costs”
The State Gaming Commission has approved a deal between Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. and Genting New York LLC, which operates Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct, providing the county with $26 million in revenue over the next three years, officials said.
The Commission approved the agreement Tuesday after a nearly two-month review, said spokesman Lee Park.
The deal, passed by state lawmakers in April, stipulates that Genting will pay OTB $9 million by the end of 2016; $9 million in 2017/18 and $25 million every year afterward. In exchange, OTB transfers its authority to host 1,000 video slot machines to Resorts World.
OTB gives Nassau $3 million in 2016 as part of the deal, $3 million in 2017/18 and $20 million every year thereafter, according to Adam Barsky, chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Committee, a state oversight board in control of the county’s finances. Barsky, who has been briefed on the plan, said he wants OTB “to get to a break even point” so that it could eventually provide the full $25 million to the county.
Nassau OTB chairman Joseph Cairo said the Genting revenue, combined with savings from new voluntary retirement incentives for agency employees and refinancing the Race Palace building in Plainview, should allow OTB to “break even in seven years.”
Cairo called the Genting deal critical for the agency’s “survival” and said it will allow OTB “to generate revenue for Nassau for years to come.”
Genting spokesman Michael Levoff said the agreement allows Resorts World “to embark on an ambitious expansion project, which will mean more jobs and greater opportunity for our local community.”
Newsday filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the commission in August for both the agreement and a plan submitted by OTB stipulating how it will eliminate $12 million in agency debt. Park said the request is still under review.
OTB receives $5 million next week as part of the deal and another $4 million by year’s end, Cairo said. Beginning in April 2017, Genting will make $750,000 monthly payments to OTB, totaling $9 million for the year. In April 2018, or sooner if the video slot machines are in place, Genting will send OTB monthly payments of just over $2 million, or $25 million annually, with the amount adjusted for inflation.
County Executive Edward Mangano said the deal is “good news” for taxpayers who receive “new dollars without the burden of new costs.”
If Genting is delayed in installing the video slot machines, the $25 million payment gets deferred until no later than April 2019. In that situation, OTB receives $9 million.
If Resorts World receives approval in the coming years to open a casino with table games, OTB can renegotiate the deal to increase their revenue percentage, according to sources familiar with the deal.
But if gambling revenue at Resorts World drops by more than 10 percent — or if a casino opens within 65 miles of Aqueduct and Resorts World is not permitted to operate its own table games — Genting can renegotiate the deal to reduce its payments, sources said.
Cairo said OTB will use the Genting payments to pay off the balance of a $3 million short-term note, originally due in March, to a Manhattan investment bank. OTB made a $1.7 million payment in July after the sale of its Farmingdale branch building, and now owes $1.3 million, Cairo said.
OTB ended 2015 with a deficit of more than $7 million.
Nassau and Suffolk received state authority to operate up to 1,000 video slot machines in 2013. But Nassau was unable to find a location willing to accept a gambling parlor.
TAUNTON — It appears as though the Mashpee Wampanoag's construction project in East Taunton has gone from building a casino and hotels to filling in holes.
The scale and scope of construction work at the site where the Cape Cod tribe hopes to open a $1 billion resort casino has shifted in the aftermath of a court ruling that throws the project’s future into question.
Instead of plowing forward to construct three hotels and a modern gambling casino — with an initial opening planned for summer of 2017 — a press release Friday indicates that the $1 billion endeavor is about to assume a holding pattern.
“The work on the Tribe’s reservation has turned to filling in trenches that have been excavated, implementing measures to avoid soil erosion, dust control, and securing equipment and materials, such as 2,000 tons of steel worth an estimated $8.2 million,” the press release states.
The news comes one week after a U.S. District Court Judge in Boston sided with an anti-casino group of residents, who in February filed a lawsuit — claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2015 had no legal standing approving the tribe’s request to place “in trust” 151 acres in Taunton and 170 acres in Mashpee as sovereign, Indian reservation territory.
A press release issued Friday by Regan Communications Group, which represents the 2,000-plus-member tribe, quotes tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell as saying the proposed First Light Resort & Casino — which he’s said will create 2,600 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs at the location adjacent Liberty & Union Industrial Park — is “a juggernaut you don’t stop on a dime.”
But instead of claiming that the massive construction project will continue unabated — while the Department of Interior considers a circuit-court appeal to Judge William Young’s ruling — Cromwell is quoted as saying that “the on-site activity now is only to render it safe and to secure tribal assets.”
The press release also insists that Genting Group of Malaysia, which is financing the project, is not cutting its losses.
The president of Resorts World Massachusetts, a Genting subsidiary, is quoted saying that “Genting Group remains committed to First Light and stands with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the City of Taunton.”
Taunton, as per an agreement with the tribe, is guaranteed a minimum $8 million annually. The tribe also is committed to paying for infrastructure upgrades such as new traffic signals and other improvements at some off-site intersections.
One of those improvement projects currently in progress is the installation of water mains and pipes along Stevens Street from Pinehill Street leading into the construction area.
That work, the press release says, “is on schedule to be completed by the end of August.”
The tribe and its supporters in the city, including Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr., were dealt a blow by Young’s decision rejecting the land-in-trust decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Young said the language of a Supreme Court ruling in 2009, commonly called the Carcieri decision, makes clear that only tribes recognized by the federal government in 1934 — the year the Indian Reorganization Act became law — are eligible to have land placed in trust.
If First Light were to open, the state would receive 17 percent of its gambling revenue, as compared to 25 percent from commercial casinos — two of which have been approved and are set to eventually open in Everett and Springfield.
Backers of the First Light project have included former Congressman Bill Delahunt, who worked as a lobbyist to represent the Mashpee Wampanoag as they worked toward attaining land in trust.
The press release also notes that other Indian tribes are supporting the Mashpee Wampanoag's effort to retain the land previously placed in trust.
"United South and Eastern tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET and SPF) an alliance of 26 tribes has filed an amicus brief in support of the Interior Department authorizing re-establishment of the Mashpee tribe's homelands."
A 750,000-square-foot expansion is planned for Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City, with construction work on the project set to commence in December. The expansion plan has not been introduced to the New York Racing Association (NYRA) yet.
The amount of $400 million will be spent on the project. Genting New York, the casino operator in charge of the racetrack and the nearby Resorts World Casino New York, said at a meeting with the NYRA Franchise Oversight Board that local officials have not been presented with rendering of how the upgraded facility would look. In addition, the project will need to be approved by the state in order to be materialized.
Genting New York is planning to add additional gambling space, hotel rooms, entertainment and retail areas at the existing racetrack.
Commenting on the announcement, Resorts World Casino New York President Ryan Eller told the board that the expansion project comes as the first phase of a larger plan for turning the racetrack into a full-scale integrated casino resort.
If the plan is given the green light, it might result in Genting New York positioning itself as one of the candidates for the operation of downstate full-fledged casinos once legislators and gambling regulators decide to provide the necessary licenses for the purpose. The said licenses would make it possible for video-lottery terminals to be replaced with real slot machines and table games to be added to gambling venues in the region.
The Franchise Oversight Board is responsible for monitoring NYRA’s finances. The NYRA itself operates racing options at Aqueduct. However, the association has not been presented with the expansion plan yet.
During the meeting with the Oversight Board, a member voiced concerns about the impact the project would have on purses if it fails. Questions were also raised about the extent of disruption on racing during construction. Expansion is expected to be completed early in 2019.
Mr. Eller admitted that there indeed will be significant negative impact on purses if the Aqueduct market does not expand as initially planned. He also noted that if New Jersey eventually legalizes the establishment of two commercial casinos outside Atlantic City, this would affect New York’s gambling market in quite a negative manner, as well.
Three years ago, two short, 150-meter horse races began in Miami-Dade County and ended in Broward, so now Malaysian gambling conglomerate Genting should be allowed to operate a casino near downtown Miami. Or, at least, that's the oversimplified take on a lawsuit Genting has filed against Miami-Dade County and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Five years ago, Genting plopped down $236 million to buy theMiami Herald's former bayfront headquarters andunveiled ambitious plans to build a lavish megaresort and full-service casino on the primo property. This despite the fact that such casinos aren't allowed in Florida under the law. Genting took a bet that the state government would rush through some changes to the gambling laws to accommodate them, but, so far, they've come up losers. It shouldn't be a surprise. They weren't the first company with big dreams and an even bigger fortune to try to get gambling expanded in the state.
Well, just weeks after rumors surfaced that Genting may try and sell its property and walk away from the project, the Malaysian conglomerate is back with a last-ditch lawsuit to allow them to operate a slot machine and card games at the Omni building.
Under Florida law, operators of pari-mutuel gaming facilities (i.e. horse and dog racing tracks) are also allowed to run a limited number of card games and slot machines. Back in 2014, Genting reached an agreement with Gulfstream Park to transfer their quarter-horse permit. Gulfstream mainly runs thoroughbred races under a separate license anyway.
In fact, Gulfstream has only maintained a quarter-horse permit in hopes of one day operating a casino in Miami-Dade anyway. That was their plan long before Genting was in the picture, and the permit is technically currently owned by a separate nonprofit.
Shortly after purchasing the Herald site, Genting also went on a shopping spree that included the nearby former Omni Mall building.
While occasional quarter-horse racing remained at Gulfstream, Genting wanted to operate the associated card room and slot machines out of the Omni. Though, a judge ruled that the Broward-based Gulfstream couldn't transfer their permit across county lines.
Gulfstream Park is based in Broward County, but some of its land does stretch over into Miami-Dade.
And it turns out that whenever Gulfstream does run an occasional quarter-horse race in order to maintain the permit, they make sure that it starts on the small part of its land that is in Miami-Dade.
According to the Herald, Genting and Gulfstream signed a nominal $1, one-year lease back in April and have now filed a preemptive lawsuit against the county and Rundle.
Essentially, they're asking a judge to agree that the permit is valid in Miami-Dade and to bar any police or regulators from taking action against them from running a casino in the county.
Yes, it's a complicated legal maneuver, and ultimately it will be up to the courts to decide if there's any merit to the argument.
It's not surprising that Genting operates with a gambler's mentality. They take a lot of big risks. A lot of them fail, but if they get lucky on one deal they can end up winning big time.
Malaysian casino operator Genting Group has filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County and the county's state attorney to allow Genting to operate a ...
ALBANY — Tens of millions of dollars in revenue from Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct slated for state education will instead be invested in capital spending to expand the site, according to an agreement in the 2016-17 state budget approved last week.
Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, estimated the award to be $40 million a year going to Genting New York LLC., which operates Resorts World.
“That would be money that should be going to education and not to Genting, which is one of the richest companies in the world, a multi-billion dollar corporation,” he told POLITICO New York. “They don’t need to take money from children of New York to build a hotel or for any other reason.”
But state and Resorts World officials insisted that in the end, the investment will result in twice the amount of money being used for the casino's growth.
“Now that we are eligible to participate in the State's capital allowance program, we will be able to embark upon a considerable expansion of our facility, which will be developed in consultation with our local community partners,” Genting senior vice president of public affairs Michael Levoff said in an emailed statement. “This investment will lead to increased visitation, more good-paying local jobs and a significant increase in overall revenue for New York's education fund.”
The group already is in the process of planning a $300 million expansion, including hotel and meetings space, according to a source close to Resorts World.
Resorts World had more than $18 billion wagered on video gaming machines in its 2015-16 fiscal year, according to the most recent data from the state Gaming Commission that does not include the final month of March. Of that, slightly more than 95 percent is paid out in player winnings and the remainder, approximately 4 percent, is divvied up among state education, the state racing industry, and the proprietor. it amounts to about $727 million, according to the recent data.
In 2015-16, not counting March numbers, Resorts World contributed more than $337 million to state education — about 44 percent of the revenues.
The state budget affects that bottom line in two ways. First, it authorizes Aqueduct to operate 1,000 of Nassau County's video slot machines, as was first reported by Newsday last week.
Under the provisions of the deal, which are not included in the budget, Resorts World will pay Nassau County Off-Track Betting $9 million in 2016, $9 million in 2017 and $25 million in 2018 and beyond, with future payments adjusted for inflation, officials said.
Resorts World currently has 5,547 “video lottery terminals,” so the addition of 1,000 more is expected to increase profits, officials said.
“It’s a win-win for everybody involved,” Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder of Queens told POLITICO New York. “Nassau County gets to relinquish themselves of having to find a place for these slot machines. No community across Nassau County could agree on where these machines should go, and Aqueduct is the perfect place," Goldfeder said. "Resorts World is the perfect partner to continue to grow the casino and grow development toward that successful entity well into the future.”
It also means no competition for Resorts World in Nassau County, Goldfeder said.
Another provision in the budget awarding capital to Resorts World had some lawmakers concerned.
When 400 machines become active at Resorts World, or by April 1, 2019, whichever comes first, 1 percent of the revenues that currently go towards education will instead go towards capital, state officials said.
That award will increase to 4 percent going forward after the total of 1,000 VLTs are put in place, state officials said.
Due to the complex calculation process it was unclear Tuesday how much money this would mean. For example, 1 percent of the current education contribution works out to more than $3 million and increases to nearly $14 million at 4 percent. If it’s based on the “net win,” meaning the revenues taken in after the prizes are paid out, those numbers jump to nearly $8 million at 1 percent and more than $30 million at 4 percent, based on the most recent fiscal year numbers.
Unlike some casinos in the state that already have this capital award included in their calculations, Aqueduct was originally awarded a flat $250 million towards capital expenditures, state officials said. To help the facility continue to develop, the new capital award was added in the state budget, officials said.
Pretlow said he didn’t mind the deal for the 1,000 VLTs, but was against the capital award.
“We’re reducing our education fund by an enormous amount. We loved the small gains that we made in education, but then to turn around and to give away $35 million every year forever out of the education fund is I think a travesty and a miscarriage and we really have to address that and take it away,” Pretlow said.
Morris Peters, a spokesman for the state's Budget Division, said it would be made up as revenue increased.
“The reduction of the statutory aid-to-education percentage is more than made up for by the capital award allocation,” Peters told POLITICO New York in an email. “The goal is to increase education revenues — we wouldn't make a change with an adverse impact."
Resorts World contributed more than $1.1 billion to state education since opening in 2011, according to most recent data.
"Resorts World has to constantly innovate and improve our customer experience to remain competitive in an increasingly uncertain and crowded market,” Levoff said in the statement.
Genting Malaysia adds another resort casino in the US
KUALA LUMPUR: Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) will manage First Light Resort & Casino, an Indian-destination resort casino in Massachusetts, United States, to be built by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
GenM said in a statement that the appointment as the manager, which is pending approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission, was expected to be for seven years starting from the opening of the 900-room resort casino in Taunton.
The GenM group does not have any equity interest in the project or the tribe, which is sovereign. It has, however, invested US$249.5mil (RM968.1mil) in interest bearing promissory notes issued by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority for the initial development phase of the project.
“The investment in notes allows the group to enhance the returns expected from its involvement in the project,” GenM said.
The resort casino would be opened in phases, it said, without giving a timeline. When fully completed, First Light Resort & Casino will feature, among others, a high-concept 150,000 sq ft casino featuring 3,000 slots, 150 gaming tables and 40 poker tables.
There will also be a luxury hotel complete with spa, a large pool and meeting facilities; a mid-range hotel with a 15,000 sq ft convention centre and a 200-seater 24-hour restaurant; a family hotel consisting of a 25,000 sq ft indoor/outdoor water park; and retail shopping destinations and food outlets.
GenM said the group’s foray into the gaming industry in Massachusetts is expected to complement and further establish its growing presence in the US, where it already has operations and developments in the states of New York and Florida.
Besides Resorts World Genting, GenM owns and operates Resorts World Casino New York City, Resorts World Bimini, Resorts World Birmingham and other casinos in the UK.
According to reliable sources Genting Malaysia Bhd, one of the leading Asian leisure and hospitality companies, is about to ink a deal authorizing it to run the soon-to-be-established casino resort, located in Taunton, Massachusetts.
In a special filing, Genting Malaysia revealed that it is to be appointed as a manager of First Light Resort & Casino, but before that, it had to receive the approval of the National Indian Gaming Commission.
Once the company gets Commission’s nod, its license will be valid for seven years commencing from the opening of the property. Currently, the casino is under construction after the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe managed to overcome all administrative hurdles and obtained the necessary approvals.
Genting Malaysia revealed that the property it will be responsible for will feature a fully integrated casino venue as well as a hotel, plenty of shopping and entertainment facilities.
If everything goes in accordance with the initial plan, the property will be opened in several phases. As for the casino itself, it is to spread over 150,000 square feet and players will be able to choose between 40 poker tables, 3,000 slots, and 150 gaming tables.
The First Light Resort & Casino property is to feature as many as 900 hotel rooms. These 900 rooms will be divided into three hotels – a luxurious one, a mid- range one and a family hotel where guests will be able to enjoy a water park facility.
Representatives of Genting Massachusetts revealed that the casino is expected to open sometime in 2017 while the rest of the project is to be completed by 2020. If these plans are materialized, First Light Resort & Casino will be the first full-scale casino property on the territory of the Bay state.
In addition, Genting Malaysia announced that it has invested almost $250 million in notes, issued by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority. The company clarified the investment and confirmed that it does not have an equity interest in the project. However, the investment notes enabled the company to expect a better return on the funds it has invested so far.
Genting Malaysia also confirmed that its involvement in the gaming sector of Massachusetts will be beneficial for company’s ventures in the US. If Genting Malaysia receives the necessary approval, Taunton casino in will be the third property it runs on the territory of the US. Genting Malaysia is also in charge of casinos located in the Bahamas and the United Kingdom.
Nassau VLT deal could be a winner, but what do taxpayers get?
Nassau County may have just hit the jackpot with the VLT deal at Aqueduct Racetrack, and if the cards are played right, a lot of players will have chances to cash in.
For years, Nassau County and the Nassau Downs Off-Track Betting Corp. have been battling to site 1,000 video-lottery terminals. But first with a Westbury site, then at Belmont Park, proposals were annihilated by community pressure.
Now, after weeks of secret negotiations and extensive work by State Sen. Jack Martins and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, lawmakers in Albany are set to approve a state budget that will authorize the placement of Nassau’s machines at Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack, where Genting New York LLC already operates 5,400 machines. Nassau OTB will get $9 million annually in the first two years while Genting gets the operation rolling, then $25 million a year in perpetuity, plus raises for inflation.
In theory, that means the county will get the revenue it needs from a casino without the responsibility and headaches of building and running one.
After Nassau’s losing record in trying to site a VLT casino, this is a gift. Whether $25 million annually is too little remains to be seen. The money, however, first goes to Nassau OTB, which takes a cut, and then to the county. How much of the cash the floundering OTB soaks up, though, for really doing no work beyond cashing a check is a big question. If Nassau OTB can’t support itself on racing alone, it needs to fold. Using this new stream of county revenue to bolster horse racing is a bad bet. This money is for the taxpayers.
Overall, farming out the machines to Genting seems like a winning move. Having VLTs at both Aqueduct and Belmont, about 10 miles from each other, wouldn’t have been a wise use of resources.
We’ve learned from these clandestine budget negotiations that the fine print always has secrets. From what we know now, however, the deal satisfies many needs and quiets more than a few concerns. The county will gets its money, or at least what it can pry clear of the OTB, and the community can stop agitating about VLTs. Most important, however, Aqueduct and Belmont sites get a shot at a better future.Horse racing has been in trouble for years, and the New York Racing Association has been tasked with creating a future for the three tracks the state owns. This deal clears the way for closing the track at Aqueduct and moving its races to a year-round track at Belmont. That could bring needed development to western Nassau. Meanwhile, don’t be surprised if Genting dusts off plans to use that extra space from the track for a full casino, hotels and convention facilities.
When the site was restored, this article was absent, yet for some reason I has preserved it in its entirety. [Please avoid the temptation to hack this site because the article has been preserved elsewhere in its entirety and a new blog will be created containing this article.]
The contents are worrisome, yet never addressed.
Because Genting has been the Mashpee Wampanoag's Sugar Daddy, they have escaped scrutiny, an issue raised with the Massachusetts Gambling Commission and ignored.
The money rush is on. A shady, but well-heeled Asian casino gambling giant swoops into town, buys an outdated office facility and valuable underlying real estate from the Miami Herald and launches a multi-million dollar campaign to approve non-Indian casino gambling in Florida and put a license on the former Miami Herald tract.
Kuala Lumpur-based Genting has multinational operations in tourism, resorts, gambling, plantations, power generation, and oil and gas. Genting’s market capitalization value, or net worth, reached $46 billion at the end of last year — making it one of Malaysia’s largest companies.
The Miami Herald suspends their normally skeptical eye, conducts no due-diligence on their new Chinese friends from Malaysia and their newspaper becomes a public relations machine for a client they don’t even really know.
Every glad-handing semi-corrupt politician in Miami-Dade and the City of Miami with their hand out will be jumping on the Genting gravy train. Genting is a target for every con-man lobbyist/political consultant/PR man which Miami-Dade County abounds with.
Recently a group of “Community Leaders” were flown to South East Asia including visits to Genting casinos in Malaysia and Singapore. Genting refuses to disclose the names of “Community Leaders” – including elected officials – who were flown to South East Asia in a private luxury jet and wined and dined at 5-Star resorts reserved for high-rollers in the Asian gaming world.
World Resorts Genting, also known as Genting Highlands, opened in 1965 and is the company’s flagship resort in Malaysia. The resort features Malaysia’s only land-based casino, six hotels, three theme parks, a convention center, and numerous restaurants and nightclubs, among other attractions.
Resorts World Sentosa, which opened last year in Singapore, features one of the world’s most expensive casinos, six hotels, a Universal Studios theme park and a Marine Life Park, among other features. The Florida Delegation visited both, reportedly racking up more than $790,000 worth of hotel, restaurant, spa and entertainment costs in both 5-Star resorts.
Genting has retained a team of slick lobbyists including Jonathan Kilman, with the law firm of Foley & Lardner. Kilman’s partner, Chris Kise, is under investigation for erasing email records generated during Governor Rick Scott’s Inauguration. The missing emails are thought to contain correspondence exposing the business dealings of Kise and Scott’s political adviser Enu Mainigi. Scott has ordered the FDLE review. Kise insists the emails were erased accidently. Foley and Lardner’s influence in the Governor’s office is not likely to be strong in 2012. Before it’s over, expect that Genting, their lobbyists, and other retainers, will lavish the Republican Party of Florida and other selected party redistricting vehicles with millions of dollars. They’ll even buy Governor Rick Scott a golden toilet seat for the Governors mansion is he wants!
Genting, the Asian casino giant, does not hold a casino gaming license in any U.S. jurisdiction that has serious regulation. New York State requires relatively little scrutiny in the contract Genting has with the State of New York to operate slot machines at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Genting made millions of dollars as the money-men behind two controversial Indian Casino gaming developments in the Eastern United States. In both cases, Genting operations were directed by G. Michael Brown, a former New Jersey Attorney General who was later charged with embezzlement and cocaine use in the Seneca Tribal Court.
Brown was charged with putting various mistresses on the casino payroll and using casino funds to pay for luxury condominiums, imported sports cars and expensive jewelry for them. Brown famously drove a 4-door sedan owned by the Seneca Tribe through the picture window of a Niagara Falls resident while driving drunk.
Genting was the financier of the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York. Genting charged the tribe an exorbitant 28 percent interest rate, potentially in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulations under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Genting also stayed in the deal for almost 15 years when they were legally limited to five. Seneca Tribal Council members have testified that armed Chinese thugs showed up to collect Genting’s money when tribal lawyers pointed out that Genting was violating the law. All of this became known to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, which held hearings and launched an investigation into corruption in the Indian gaming industry in the United States. But what the Senate Committee found out about Genting was even more disturbing: an apparent pattern of multi-million dollar payments to Islamic extremist organizations in Malaysia who most definitely are not friends of the United States of America.
U.S. Senate Special Committee records regarding Genting and their financing of multiple Islamic-based organizations in Malaysia are classified. Some U.S. Senator needs to launch an investigation to determine whether Genting has relationships that would make their holding a casino license in Miami (a money machine) inappropriate. U.S. Senate staff investigators should get a firm understanding of Genting’s questionable relationships in Malaysia and China.
Genting executives told Senate investigators at the time that the millions of dollars funneled to various Islamic extremist organizations known to finance jihad were made under direst and viewed as a cost of doing business for a Chinese businessman in heavily Islam-run Malaysia. Investigators had reason to be skeptical when photos of K.T. Lim and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il surfaced. The Senate investigators also obtained photos of Lim socializing with at least two Islamic figures wanted by the United States for terrorist activities. Senate investigators were also interested in K.T. Lim’s relationship with Stanley Ho, the Asian casino magnate who has been identified as a member of the Chinese Triad, the Chinese crime organization, by the U.S. Justice Department and by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ho has been denied a casino license in every jurisdiction except in Macau and North Korea. Genting has refused to address their business dealings with Ho and his company Shun Tak Holdings Ltd.
While the Miami Herald is telling us that Genting boss K.T. Lim is a brilliant businessman, he could be one of the largest funders of Islamic terrorist activity in Asia. Instead of giving press conferences to the Miami Herald, perhaps K.T. should be interrogated under subpoena by U.S. Senate lawyers.
The Miami-Dade politicians who suck up Genting’s food, drink and accommodations and support Genting’s development will jump off of them like rats when they learn where a substantial portion of Genting’s profits in Florida may be going. Just because Genting has a lot of money doesn’t mean that they are suitable to operate casinos in the United States based on their associations and business practices.
Neither Governor Rick Scott, nor Senate President Mike Haridopolos will agree to casino gaming without a local county referendum. Perhaps Miami’s Cuban voters should decide whether they want to approve a casino for a foreign company who could be financing Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Nothing short of full disclosure of all the finances and holdings of Genting should be required under Florida casino regulation. If they deny ties to radical Islam only full disclosure will verify this claim, a protection the public requires.
New Jersey Casino Control law is considered the toughest in the country and is the model for casino regulation in the rest of the country. Nevada’s regulations are similar, but the process in that small state is “more political.” Florida’s casino regulation must not and cannot be lax. We need to know far, far more about Genting and their friends before they get a casino license in Florida.
Posts
