Sheldon Adelson, casino opponent

You read that right: El Bombastico has developed a sudden concern that adding 9,000 slots to Florida‘s existing inventory of 15,000 “will saturate the market with too many games,” in the words of the Miami Herald. In other words, there should be a one-casino monopoly belonging to You Know Who. The Las Vegas Sands CEO will no doubt be purring those sentiments in the ear of his sock puppet, Gov. Rick Scott (R), as well as South Florida mayors Tomas Regalado and Carlos Gimenez this weekend. In the meantime, state Rep. Rene Garcia (R) has been junketing — on his own dime, it must be observed — to Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. So have other Florida politicos, albeit at Genting Berhad‘s expense.

Some of us — ahem! — have been expressing skepticism about Florida’s ability to support Vegas-scale resort casinos, based on the economic performance of its racinos and non-tribal gambling venues. Adelson’s volte-face, however, is naked hypocrisy. This is the guy who got the ball rolling by proposing to convert Florida into a Sands-only fiefdom, sporting five or six casinos, for a total investment of $12 billion. The prospect of adding, oh, 12K-18K more slots bothered him not a whit a back then.

When Adelson’s lead balloon had trouble gaining altitude, Sands modified its stance, dropping the monopoly in favor of a “Line of Death” that would extend for 75 miles around every casino, protecting them from free-market forces. (Scott [left], for his part, has opined that “we need to make sure the local communities are supportive of it. We ought to have a vote.” Yes, given that — like, duh! — to do otherwise would be totally unconstitutional.)

Wherefore Sheldon’s sudden attack of probity? Could it have anything to do with the bombshell Genting dropped last week: a $3.2 billion megaresort built in 2-3 years if gambling is approved, finished in full by 2026 if not? Adelson may have invested an immense volume of hot air in Florida but those Malaysian upstarts are putting real money on the table and, by gum, that’s gotta stop!

Genting’s proposal wouldn’t exactly be Vegas-styled: Its casino would be nestled up on the third and fourth floors (lending a touch of exclusivity, no doubt). It would boast roulette and craps … which means that the state would have to allow the Seminole Tribe those hitherto-forbidden games. That’s one of the calculations Sunshine State lawmakers will have to weigh, along with whether forfeiting sure-thing Seminole revenue sharing is worth a dice roll on Genting and others. That question has become a good deal more pressing now that the Lege has $3 billion worth of pressure at its back. Stock analysts are divided on the advisability of the project, but legislators will see construction jobs, sales-tax revenue and waterfront development, and that’s probably good enough for them.

Solution: Follow Adelson’s advice and vote in a single casino — earmarked for Genting. It’d serve Sheldon right.

Another Barrack triumph. The shiftless bunch of bunglers collectively known as Colony Capital appear to have tripped over the electrical cord, unplugging efforts to keep the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort on life support. Colony CEO Tom Barrack has been massively delinquent on “ACH” liabilities — of which the pension fund is but one among many. In typically distasteful Barrack fashion, he’s trying to dump them off onto the next owner … which will either nix a sale outright or substantially drive down the purchase price. The latter will be further depressed by the cost of rebranding the casino and removing all Hilton trappings, Barrack having lost the right to fly the Hilton flag. Colony is delusionally hopefully seeking as much as $75 million for the place. Lotsa luck.

Barrack only recouped 23% of his investment in Resorts Atlantic City and he’d be awfully fortunate to even get back that much of the $513 million he buried in the Hilton, especially when it’s on pace to lose almost $22 million this year. If Colony can keep the doors open until next spring, when its license expires, it will have some serious ‘splainin’ to do before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in order to stay in business. Were the NJCCC to employ the same yardstick it applied to the Tropicana Atlantic City when Columbia Sussex owned the place, Colony would be in for a helluva thrashing, followed by a swift expulsion from the Boardwalk.