Miami lawmakers look to ban further gambling expansion in its city

According to a report from the Miami Herald, most of Miami’s commissioners voted Thursday to alter the city’s zoning code. The move would ban any gambling establishments that aren’t already running or have been prepared. Only two of the 13 commissioners voted against the measure.

While the 11-2 vote makes it likely that the measure would pass, the commission requires a final vote at a future meeting to turn the proposal into city law.
The city is already home to two casinos, Casino Miami and Magic City Casino, with another one, already planned. West Flagler Associates, the Havenick family-owned company that is suing the federal government over the sports betting provisions in the new 30-year gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe, would own two of the three properties in the city – Magic City Casino and the new cardroom and jai-alai facility in Edgewater.

The new ordinance comes seven months after the city ended a several-year legal battle with West Flagler over the upcoming Edgewater property. The suit eventually ended in March with a veto from the city’s Mayor.

When several wealthy anti-gambling South Florida entrepreneurs caught wind that a new gambling den would be in their backyard, they started a legal battle with the city to stop West Flagler Associates from making it happen.

Ironically, those same businessmen are also suing the federal government over other aspects of the new gaming compact.

“I will do anything that is in my power to oppose this and block this and kill this,” said Jorge Perez, CEO of real estate development company the Related Group, in 2018 regarding the Edgewater facility.

“Miami has grown beautifully in the past two decades into a real city where culture is thriving.
Neighborhoods and downtown are getting filled with young people and families. It’s getting filled with art and businesses. Casino gambling in any form in the downtown area would be horrendous.”