In one day, attorney Robert Lubin‘s plan for a new Gulfport, Mississippi, casino went from being the next big thing to “Yes, but …” Lubin, whose speciality is EB-5 visa financing, envisions a two-pronged 
project: a $140 million casino plus a $30 rehabilitation of the abandoned Markham Hotel for either residential or office use. The initiative would fulfill Gulfport’s long-unsatisfied desire for a casino in its harbor district (site of a failed Donald Trump initiative in the wayback). A rain-drenched Lubin jetted into Gulfport just in time to testify in favor of his 10-acre, 300-room casino project. Enthused Mayor Billy Hewes (right), “This is a great day for Gulfport and the Coast.”
However, in the cold light of day, complications with Lubin’s plan emerged. Not only do Lubin and partner Kevin Preston still have to raise the money, they have to satisfy several criteria set by the Mississippi Gaming Commission. These include three-diamond hotel rooms and “a non-gambling amenity meant to grow the casino market.” The newly opened Scarlet Pearl Casino (below) in D’Iberville just barely met these criteria — and it cost $290 million, more than double Lubin’s budget. The latter hinted that he might try to piggyback onto a nearby, unrelated aquarium project as the unique amenity but that might not be enough to satisfy the MGC.
Even at $130 million, the proposed casino would be a much heavier fundraising lift than any of Lubin’s recent projects. On the plus side, 
Lubin already has a Mississippi gaming license and the Gulfport Redevelopment Commission could have chosen either of two other projects instead but leaned in Lubin’s favor. Depending on the pace of fundraising, which Lubin expects to complete by late September, the casino couldn’t open before 2018. The Markham rehabilitation will take a similar amount of time. In the meanwhile, Lubin should take counsel from Scarlet Pearl attorney Dan McDaniel, who cautions, “The Gaming Commission will be very strict in their requirements for development.”
* Daily fantasy sports took two steps forward in Florida this week, as the Senate Regulated Industries Committee and the House Finance & Tax Committee voted in favor of bills not only explicitly legalizing DFS but exempting it from regulation. They’ll have to register with the Department of Business & Professional Regulation and company employees are barred from playing, but it looks like DFS got most of what it wanted. The companion bills are meant to clarify an ambiguous attorney general’s ruling dating back to 1991. Said Sen. Joe Negron (R), “I don’t think anyone wants to criminalize an activity that 3 million law abiding citizens are engaged in.”
One of the very few dissenters was Senate committee Chairman 
Rob Bradley (R, right), who feels that DFS has too much of an element of chance to not be gambling. And since the Seminole Tribe looks upon DFS as gambling, Bradley expects it will be “woven into” the upcoming debate on the new Seminole gaming compact. While the Lege gave, the DBPR took away, declaring certain player-banked card games, like three-card poker, to be illegal under Florida law. There were conspiratorial mutterings that this reversal was somehow related to compact negotiations. In the meantime, parimutuels are trying to figure out where they stand. “We explained to them how the games are played, we had our internal controls approved, and it wasn’t until just recently that all of a sudden they said, ‘No,’” Jacksonville Greyhound Racing CEO Howard Korman said of the DBPR.
* The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma let no grass grow under its feet this week. Scarcely was the ink dry on a Dec. 21 federal approval of the lease of Native American homestead land to the tribe than plans were busted out for a 39,000-square-foot casino with 400 Class II machines, as well as “a restaurant, a full-service bar, a live music venue, a dance floor and complimentary nonalcoholic drinks.” The casino, northeast of Tulsa, will be on the road to Monkey Island and Tom Cat Corner. Give the Cherokee props for their enterprising spirit.
