NST Online Business Times : latest
NST Online Business Times : latest |
| Genting fights Disney, South Beach Posted: 08 Nov 2011 05:25 PM PST Genting Bhd's plan for a US$3.8 billion casino-and-hotel complex along Miami's Biscayne Bay has turned into a fight over gambling and jobs pitting the Malaysian developer against Walt Disney Co, local hoteliers, restaurant owners and betting parlors. Florida lawmakers will take up bills in January to allow three casino licences in Miami-Dade County and Broward County to the north for companies investing at least US$2 billion. Ellyn Bogdanoff, the Fort Lauderdale Republican sponsor of the Senate measure, said it has only a 50 percent chance of passing. Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican, said he'll consider any measure that's "fair" and "locally decided." Genting, whose 10,000-room Casino de Genting in Malaysia is the world's largest by number of accommodations, began buying about US$500 million of Miami properties even before the bills were filed. The first was the 14-acre bayfront site of the Miami Herald newspaper for US$236 million in May. Las Vegas Sands Corp and MGM Resorts International said they're also looking. So-called destination resorts, such as the 5,200-room complex Genting proposes, may bring Florida as many as 100,000 jobs, said Jessica Hoppe, the company's general counsel. That may help Scott fulfill a campaign promise to create 700,000 positions over seven years in a state where the unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in September, 1.5 percentage points higher than the national average at the time.
Florida voters rejected casino permits three times since 1978 in statewide referendums. Now, two factors may favor them: a decision by the First District Court of Appeal on Oct. 6 that may dispense with a state ballot and a Florida economy that's seen tax revenue decline almost 15 percent since fiscal 2006. Diverting gamblers from the Caribbean, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, New Jersey, would boost the US$63 billion tourist industry, proponents say. Florida is trying to recover from the fourth-steepest decline in economic health of any state over the past five years, according to Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States Index data. "What you're talking about is capturing a market of high- end Venezuelans, South Americans, Latin Americans, Western Europeans that love coming to Miami," Representative Erik Fresen, a Miami Republican who sponsored the House casino bill, said in an interview in Tallahassee, the capital. Florida isn't the only state considering casinos as they try to close fiscal 2013 deficits. The projected gaps are an estimated US$46 billion, according to a June 17 estimate by the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income families. States at Work Massachusetts lawmakers are working on bills that would allow three resort-style casinos. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn supports elements of a bill for five casinos in his state. In New York City, Genting's casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, which opened Oct. 28, estimates it will contribute US$350 million a year to the state for education. Florida already allows gambling at seven casinos run by the Seminole Tribe and one by the Miccosukee Tribe of American Indians. It also permits poker at horse and greyhound tracks, jai-alai frontons and other sites. Slot machines are offered at five places in Miami-Dade and Broward. Competition from operators such as Genting will cost Florida millions in lost revenue from the tribe, say the Seminoles, whose headquarters is in Hollywood, north of Miami. -- Bloomberg
|
| AirAsia’s boss may start new premium airline Posted: 08 Nov 2011 06:37 PM PST Malaysia's AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes will set up a new premium regional airline that will compete head-on with Qantas' upcoming RedQ full-service carrier, the Malaysian newspaper reported today quoting unnamed sources. The report said Fernandes' new full-service-carrier will likely be called Caterham Jet and has yet to be granted an operating licence by the Malaysian government although it has secured Bombardier CRJ aircraft. The report quoted a source as saying that the airline will propose to the government that it operates from the Subang airport near Kuala Lumpur and is targeted to start operations in May 2012. "Some of the proposed routes include Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore," said the unnamed source. AirAsia and Fernandes were not immediately available for comment. - Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Business Times : latest To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan