Has anyone ever wondered why there are NO Disney properties in Las Vegas. They could get in there in a heartbeat if they wanted to.
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Disney fighting hard to keep gambling out of Florida
- Thread starter GrumpyFan
- Start date
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I literally watched the Seminole neighborhoods in SoFla go from tiny shack house to modern homes almost overnight.
The Seminole's own the bulk of casinos in Florida, the best thing to happen to them was when table games were finally allowed. Around 2007 or so.
Here's some interesting background on that..no limit poker was first to come around that time.
The state had fought hard against it for years.. all casinos only had slots and limit table games.. not black jack etc.
Finally the State of Florida agreed. But to be "responsible" they made a law of a max buy in of $100 for poker. It was a joke.
To any poker players here- Imagine 5/10 NL Hold 'em with a $100 max buy in. (minimum buy in is typically $600 or more in other states, with a max of $3k or more)
It backfired.. people were going thru several $100s of buy-ins in the course of a few hands.
The state was pressured to change the buy in, it took a few years, but they Finally realized the mistake in the law and did change it.
So now the casinos had all table games, and less restrictions on buy-ins. The casinos were spiffied up and revamped. Hard Rock Hollywood and Tampa were popular destinations.. and the Seminoles, etc built their new homes. Other people have watched the success of the past decade at the many casinos in certain areas...and want a piece of that pie now.
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ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
It's easy to understand why not, Disney wants to be the big dog in any market it enters in Las Vegas they would just be another player Disney also wants legislative power which it has in Orlando and until recently had in Anaheim.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Despite all of the tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theories you throw around here about Disney this may be the craziest thing you’ve ever saidIt’s literally impossible to be bored in Vegas. I could spend a month there without betting a dime and still have stuff I didn’t get to. I believe you may be incapable of enjoyment and fun
I've had the misfortune of being stuck for weeks in Las Vegas and besides Gambling/Eating and Drinking and Shopping, and I have no interest in college or professional sports. Besides the Atomic Museum and the Mob Museum there is little to do if one's tastes run to the intellectual rather than the hedonistic.
Grand Canyon does not count as that's not IN Vegas and if one is working it's out of reach because my company does not pay me to play tourist, If I'm there over a weekend it expects me to be WORKING not playing tourist, Sitting in room eating room service and doing data analysis on a laptop is the very definition of work.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Two words - Regulatory Capitalism. For those interested
http://johnbraithwaite.com/regulatory-capitalism/
Same reason any company spends money on something...they get back more than they put in.
No Name
Well-Known Member
Or it could be dumped into the MyMoneypit+ initiative, it could be buried in stock buybacks, it could be used to bribe "Chinese overlords," it could be used to buy Maker studios or some other equivalents, etc. It's no justification for wasting money, but they've already spend many more billions in many more questionable ways.
2.3 million on a legislative issue isn't really that extreme.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I don’t think Universal/Comcast or even Disney for that matter is against gambling for moral or altruistic reasons. It’s bad for business. They don’t need casinos to draw people into their properties and the casinos would only take away guests who may choose to spend their Mickey or Potter money elsewhere now. Universal doesn’t even run it’s own hotels so I don’t think Comcast would want to get into running casinos. I’m not familiar with the Singapore strategy but there’s a difference between building somewhere where casinos already exist and supporting someone else building casinos on your turf.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Get in there for what? I think there’s a Disney Store in one of the malls on the strip, maybe more than one. As far as building resorts in Las Vegas, DLR is a short drive and a really short flight away so they wouldn’t build another park there. I don’t see Disney getting into building random resort hotels at locations without a park. I know DVC has done that in Hawaii, FL and SC so maybe they would consider it for a timeshare location but Vegas is not really a family market so there may be more limited appeal to the people they are marketing DVC to. Plus you can always trade in through RCI to go to Vegas if you really wanted to.
Whatsthegoodword
Member
Disney is wise to fight casino gambling in Florida. Casinos are bad for the entertainment economy.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Hard Rock has figured out how to incorporate the 2 perfectly. You can have entertainment without gambling while there, or you can gamble, or you can do both.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
I know this isn’t a Vegas site or thread so I’ll leave it at this, there is a whole lot more to do in actual Las Vegas than drink and gamble and if you are willing to drive a little out of town there are tons of natural attractions and things to see too including but not limited to Grand Canyon. Lake Meade, Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon are all close by and if you are willing to go several hours away in any direction you can get to Valley of Fire, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Zion Park and Bryce Canyon.
If you are sitting in a hotel room glued to a laptop screen then yeah, it’s likely to be boring (depending on what’s on your laptop
but that’s true of any city. I could say the same thing about NYC or Paris or any amazing city anywhere in the world. Doesn’t make the city boring. When I travel for work my wife or family will always ask how was XYZ city and my answer is usually, it had a nice airport and my hotel room was pretty good, but I didn’t see much else. I always say I’m going to stay a few extra days on work trips to actually enjoy the places but I rarely end up doing it.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Hard Rock doesn’t own theme parks. It makes little sense for Disney or Universal to embrace gambling on their turf. They don’t need anything more to draw people in.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
I thought he was referring to entertainment in general. Gambling is in Florida already, the areas are still doing fine.
I don't think the theme parks want them any closer than they already are.
The_Jobu
Well-Known Member
If this was on TV, I'd pay to see it. Not even joking.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Agreed. Its not bad overall for entertainment. Casinos closer to WDW and Uni are only bad for entertainment if you own Disney Springs or City Walk and don’t want people leaving your property to seek out alternate entertainment.
The Hard Rock in Tampa is not bad for a casino outside of Vegas. It’s nothing compared to the one in Vegas but it’s completely different owners and they only share the Hard Rock name through a licensing agreement. I haven’t been to any other Seminole owned locations. They are reopening the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City as a Hard Rock casino next spring. I will be interested to see how well it’s done. Although these are pretty decent casinos having bigger players (Las Vegas Sands, Caesar’s, Wynn, MGM Mirage) would probably be more troubling for Disney/Universal since they are capable of building mega resorts that could significantly alter the tourism landscape.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
The Seminole's own Hard Rock, the entire brand.
I'm against Disney on this one. Florida has a twisted past with gambling.. when they finally allowed it- wild success happened, many more jobs were created, The Seminole Tribe made billions of dollars.
Let other people in on that.