Poarch Creek Expansion<\/strong><\/h2>\nWith 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>\nWhile 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>\nWFA also runs the Bonita Springs Poker Room near Fort Myers, which will remain in its control.<\/p>\n
Legacy Venue<\/strong><\/h2>\nThis 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
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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":"\n
Magic City: Regulators OK Biggest Casino Deal in Florida History<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n