Art Basel says it opposes Miami area gambling expansion, citing ‘reputation’ risk
Another local economic powerhouse has come out against more gambling in the Miami area.
In a letter dated March 25 and addressed to Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate President Wilton Simpson, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls and obtained by the Miami Herald through the Freedom of Information Act, Art Basel Global Director Marc Spiegler and Basel Americas Director Noah Horowitz say their organization is “strong(ly)“opposed to the establishment of casino gambling in Miami Beach and its expansion in Miami-Dade.
“The introduction and expansion of gambling has the potential to rapidly reverse the area’s reputation as a cultural epicenter of the Americas, thereby jeopardizing the bedrock of ‘Art Basel week’ each December,” they write. They note the event brings more than 100,000 domestic and international visitors annually who “enjoy all that South Florida has to offer.”
In a statement emailed to the Miami Herald, Horowitz said:
“As we expressed in our letter, we remain opposed to the establishment of all forms of casino gambling in the city of Miami Beach. We are proud to call Miami Beach our home for our American show and to be a part of South Florida’s rich and dynamic cultural ecosystem. We are concerned that the establishment of gambling in the region would undermine this ecosystem, particularly now as South Florida cultural communities rebound after one of the most difficult years in recent history.”
Art Basel, which was canceled last year amid the pandemic, is estimated to add tens of millions of dollars in revenue to Miami-Dade annually and has turbocharged the region as a cultural destination since its launch two decades ago.”
Basel now joins the likes of auto magnate Norman Braman, Related Group Chairman and CEO Jorge M. Perez and Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibarguen, who see the growth of local gambling as a threat to the strides the area has made in repositioning itself as a safe, family-friendly destination.
Current county rules and a legal settlement are already paving the way for further gambling in MiamiDade. Late last month, a legal agreement set the stage for the owners of Magic City Casino to build a summer jai-alai facility and card room inside a large complex in
Edgewater that would be developed by Russell Galbut’s Miami-based firm Crescent Heights.
The Art Basel letter comes as some Tallahassee lawmakers are turfing out legislation that would allow casino owners to transfer gambling licenses to venues in jurisdictions that have banned or restricted gaming, setting up conflicts between cities, anti-gaming forces and state lawmakers.
If approved, the legislation would also serve as an end run to a ballot measure backed by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Disney and approved by Florida voters in 2018 that ostensibly gives voters sole authority to authorize any expansion of gambling in the state.
On March 18, DeSantis and Simpson told 20 top officials of Florida’s casinos, poker rooms, horse tracks and jai-alai facilities that they were “getting close” to a gaming compact, but in the weeks since progress has stalled. The proposal would have allowed the Seminole Tribe to provide mobile sports betting while allowing the state’s existing horse tracks and jai-alai frontons to license betting operations.
Several people familiar with negotiations said they have stalled over the formula for splitting sports betting proceeds with the parimutuel industry, allowing additional tribal facilities and approval for parimutuels to continue operating designated-player games.
Among the leaders of the push to expand gambling is longtime South Florida hotelier and developer Jeffrey Soffer. Last month, the Miami Herald reported Soffer had hosted Tom Brady and House Speaker Sprowls on his 311-foot yacht, the Madsummer, the night Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory. Last September, Soffer hosted Sprowls and Senate President Simpson aboard Madsummer for intimate fundraising dinners and a sunset cruise, the Herald reported.
For years, Soffer has pushed to allow gambling at his Fontainebleau Resort on Miami Beach; he also owns the Big Easy Casino in Broward County. Other developers angling for gambling expansion include Genting Group, which is seeking to build a resort at the former Miami Herald bayfront property near downtown Miami.
And The Washington Post has reported that the
Trump Organization is lobbying to allow a casino at the Trump National Doral Miami.
Recent proposals exclude transferring a gaming permit from Broward County to the Fontainebleau, sources familiar with the talks said.
In a memo to senators on Wednesday, Simpson acknowledged the difficulty of getting a comprehensive gaming bill passed, something that has frustrated legislators for the last decade.
“Florida is a diverse state and our Senators and constituents have many different opinions, beliefs and convictions regarding gaming,’’ he said. “The fact remains, gaming is a voterapproved industry that has contributed billions of dollars to our economy for education, healthcare and infrastructure, while providing hundreds of thousands of jobs to Floridians over the course of nearly 100 years.”
Simpson said it was time to update Florida’s gaming enforcement, which is now ”decentralized among Florida’s cities and counties, primarily left to local law enforcement.”