Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): The Genting group has filed a lawsuit against authorities in the southern U.S. state of Florida, in an apparent last-ditch effort to force the state to allow card games and slots at its Resort World Omni Center in downtown Miami, the Miami Herald reported.

Genting owns a 30-acre prime freehold waterfront site in Miami that includes the Omni Center, which consists of retail space, office space and hotel.
 
In 2014, Resorts World Omni LLC, an indirect wholly-owned unit of Genting Malaysia Bhd, signed a deal with the owner and operator of Gulfstream Park Racetrack and Casino, and three other parties.

Following this, Gulfstream Park applied to the local authorities for a relocation of its non-profit thorough-bred permit and to issue the necessary licenses to operate slot machines, card room, pari-mutuel simulcast and intertrack wagering at the Omni Center.

The application was however rejected by Florida authorities.

Resorts World Omni has now filed a lawsuit, asking a judge to pre-emptively declare it lawful for Gulfstream to run a casino at the Omni, the Miami Herald reported yesterday (May 11).

“That order, if granted, would preclude Miami-Dade police and state prosecutors from filing criminal charges against the Omni casino operators,” the daily said.

It said in preparation for the suit, Gulfstream signed a one-year US$1 lease with Resorts World on April 25, for 7,500 sq feet of space at the former shopping mall. The lawsuit, filed two days later, cited the lease as grounds for asking a judge to make a ruling on the planned operation’s legality.

“The purpose of the action is to ensure that our review of the relevant laws is accurate, and to provide clarity and certainty that the activities contemplated by the lease are permissible,” the daily quoted an attorney linked to the suit as saying.

The report notes that the suit comes amid mounting questions over Genting’s plans for its downtown Miami property.

It added that in April, a developer told the daily, on condition of anonymity, that he had been shown the property, sparking rumours Genting was seeking to sell out.

The meeting, which a Genting spokeswoman denied ever happening, purportedly happened after the latest failed attempt to change Florida gambling laws during the 2016 legislative session.

“The lawsuit suggests Genting still hopes to open a casino on its property,” the Miami Herald said, adding that the action caps a series of manoeuvres by Genting and Gulfstream to establish grounds for using the racetrack’s existing permits to allow gambling at the Omni site and a property next door.

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