Another major player is watching the effort to legalize casino gambling in Georgia.
Tilman Fertitta, billionaire owner of Golden Nugget casinos and a string of restaurant franchises, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Georgia is a ripe market.
The easy access to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport helps make Atlanta a great market, Fertitta, whose restaurant franchises include Morton's The Steakhouse and Landry's Seafood, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a telephone interview.
Feritta said he is watching the Georgia process from his base in Houston and has hired the Baker Donelson law firm to represent his interests in Atlanta, including the state Capitol.
Fertitta said Georgia lawmakers should learn from mistakes made in Mississippi where he said casinos have fallen into disrepair. Look to Louisiana, he said, where the law requires operators maintain their properties.
“Louisiana was smart in keeping a limited number of licenses and making people do deferred maintenance,” he said.
Senate Bill 79, sponsored by state Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, and House Bill 158, sponsored state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, are mirror images that would allow up to two casinos in Georgia.
Supporters tout using the proceeds from gaming to boost the state’s popular HOPE scholarship program, in addition to the creation of jobs and a jolt of tax revenue to local governments. Opponents, meanwhile, have objected on moral grounds, saying gambling breeds crime and hurts vulnerable citizens.
The bills confirm what both Beach and Stephens had said would be scaled-back plans. While they initially talked of allowing up to six casinos statewide, the legislation doesn’t mention the word “casino” once. Instead, it would allow up to two gaming “destination resorts” — one in Atlanta and one in either Savannah, Columbus or Augusta. And it would create a five-member oversight commission modeled on Nevada.
The “resorts” would be taxed at 20 percent, well above the industry’s preferred rate of about 12 percent and much closer to Gov. Nathan Deal’s preferred rate of 24 percent.
Fertitta said a 20 percent tax rate works if you limit the number of licenses.
“If you limit the casinos to two or a small number, you can have a higher tax rate,” he said. “If you open it up then you better not have a high tax rate. That’s what you don’t want.”
Georgia is big enough to support several casinos, he said.
“But they’ll not be nice properties,” Fertitta said. “Two to four (licenses). You don’t need to have gaming everywhere.”
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