{"id":259240,"date":"2023-02-10T16:43:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T22:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=259240"},"modified":"2023-02-10T17:42:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T23:42:14","slug":"magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic City: Regulators OK ‘Biggest Casino Deal’ in Florida History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s Gaming Control Commission has approved the transfer of the gaming license held by Miami\u2019s Magic Casino to the Poarch Creek Band of Mission Indians<\/a>. That paves the way for the Alabama-based tribe to buy the casino<\/a> from owner West Flagler Associates (WFA) in what will likely be the biggest casino acquisition in Florida history.<\/p>\n

\"Magic
Magic City Casino, a rooftop view. The venue has been owned by the Havenick family for generations. The Poarch Creeks of Alabama moved one step closer to taking over this week. (Image: West Flagler Associates)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The purchase price has not been disclosed publicly. But industry insiders estimate $600 million.<\/p>\n

Florida has bigger casinos than Magic City, a card room and a pari-mutuel venue, albeit one of the few that are permitted to offer slots, hence the price tag.<\/p>\n

But the state\u2019s sprawling Hard Rock-branded casino resorts are all owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which couldn\u2019t sell them to another operator even if they wanted to. They exist because of gaming rights afforded to the Seminoles on their sovereign land, which are non-transferable.<\/p>\n

Poarch Creek Expansion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the acquisition of Magic City, the Poarch Creeks are rolling the dice on a commercial gaming venue far from their reservation in Alabama, where they own the state\u2019s three casinos under their Wind Creek brand.<\/p>\n

But not for the first time.\u00a0 The tribe already owns two properties in North Florida, a card room in Pensacola, and a barrel racing track and card room in Gretna.<\/p>\n

The Poarch Creeks have been expanding their gaming footprint across the US for the past decade. Most notably, they acquired the Sands Bethlehem from LVS in 2019 for $1.3 billion, renaming it the Wind Creek Bethlehem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the price is unknown, it\u2019s an all-cash deal to acquire 100% of Magic City. Meanwhile, the tribe\u2019s gaming arm, PCI Gaming, has said it will retain all of the venues\u2019 employees, except for some senior executives who will remain with WFA, The Miami Herald<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

WFA also runs the Bonita Springs Poker Room near Fort Myers, which will remain in its control.<\/p>\n

Legacy Venue<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This will be the first time the venue has changed hands. Originally known as the Flagler Dog Track, it has been a family-run business since 1952, passing through three generations of the Havenick family, which owns WFA.<\/p>\n

\n

The dog track closed in 2018, and gambling on greyhound racing is now illegal in Florida. Jay Dorris, president and CEO of PCI Gaming subsidiary Wind Creek Hospitality, said in a statement this week that the 30-acre track could be redeveloped into a hotel resort. But those changes are likely to come further down the line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very pleased that the commission made their conditional approval,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll get the deal closed, and we\u2019re going to be very transparent and provide them with whatever info they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis purchase is a fantastic opportunity to expand on a successful business and intends to improve the property and make additional investments,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s Gaming Control Commission has approved the transfer of the gaming license held by Miami\u2019s Magic Casino to the Poarch Creek Band of Mission Indians. That paves the way for the Alabama-based tribe to buy the casino from owner West Flagler Associates (WFA) in what will likely be the biggest casino acquisition in Florida history. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":162047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,33810,32093],"tags":[84017,83001,84974,84973],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMagic City: Regulators OK Biggest Casino Deal in Florida History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Magic City license transfer to Poarch Creeks from West Flagler Associates approved by Florida Gaming Control Commission.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magic City: Regulators OK Biggest Casino Deal in Florida History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Magic City license transfer to Poarch Creeks from West Flagler Associates approved by Florida Gaming Control Commission.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-10T22:43:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-10T23:42:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"641\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/\",\"name\":\"Magic City: Regulators OK Biggest Casino Deal in Florida History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-10T22:43:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-10T23:42:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Magic City license transfer to Poarch Creeks from West Flagler Associates approved by Florida Gaming Control Commission.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/magic-city-regulators-ok-biggest-casino-deal-in-florida-history\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"width\":1140,\"height\":641,\"caption\":\"Where the Magic Happens: Magic City Casino, a rooftop view. 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