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The world not solely misplaced a preferred entertainer and Las Vegas staple when Jimmy Buffett died final week, however Nevada misplaced a gaming licensee as properly.
Buffett, who appeared earlier than Nevada gaming regulators as James William Buffett, majority proprietor of Margaritaville Holdings LLC, in March 2012, offered one of the crucial participating licensing hearings in state historical past as he defined his suitability to carry a gaming license with members of the Nevada Gaming Management Board and Nevada Gaming Fee in the identical method he sings ballads that commemorate life.
Buffett, a frequent live performance performer on the MGM Grand Backyard, went to MGM with an thought to construct a Margaritaville restaurant on the resort.
Emeril Lagasse, a star chef with a spot at MGM, as soon as advised Buffett that his most worthwhile nights at his restaurant have been the dates when Buffett was performing there.
For MGM, it will definitely got here right down to a choice between Margaritaville or an Irish pub idea.
“They went with the Irish pub,” Buffett mentioned. “I often surprise in regards to the man (at MGM) who made that call and the place he’s working now.”
Companions with Caesars
He finally took the thought to what’s now Caesars Leisure Inc., which embraced the idea and opened the restaurant in 2003. As soon as the restaurant was in place, it was solely a matter of time, in 2011, earlier than an adjoining on line casino was added, and at that time, Buffett needed to be licensed to get a share of on line casino income.
Through the years, Buffett used lots of his Margaritaville enterprises to fund hurricane reduction efforts, and on a number of events he carried out live shows to lift cash for folks in want.
Two of my Florida cousins first turned me on to Buffett’s music within the ’70s. Little did I do know on the time that I might be interviewing and overlaying him 40 years later as he sought the gaming license.
The listening to earlier than Management Board members lasted longer than the period of time it took Buffett to write down “Margaritaville,” which he advised regulators took simply quarter-hour to give you his hottest music.
In most licensing hearings, regulators query candidates about questionable occasions of their lives.
Many candidates squirm via having to elucidate particulars of drunken driving arrests, failures to file earnings taxes or arrest information from years in the past found by Management Board investigators.
For Buffett, there have been two issues regulators wished to know extra about — a January 1996 incident during which Jamaican police fired on his seaplane, considering he was a drug smuggler, after he got here in for a touchdown off the coast of the Jamaican city of Negril. In addition they wished to learn about an October 2006 incident during which he was detained by French customs officers who thought he possessed ecstasy.
“That is like grown-up stuff,” Buffett mentioned after considered one of his hearings. “(A gaming license) is a very large factor for me that I’ll take very significantly. We’ve had success, however we’re going to have enjoyable additionally.”
It was former Gaming Commissioner Tony Alamo who requested Buffett to element the incident that he finally wrote a music about, the “Jamaica Mistaica.”
Bono on board
Buffett, an avid pilot, landed his seaplane, the Hemisphere Dancer, in a harbor at Negril. Considering the aircraft was smuggling marijuana, Jamaican police peppered it with bullets, shattering the entrance windshield. Among the many passengers on board the aircraft: U2 frontman Bono, who begins his 25-concert residency at Sphere this month, and his spouse and two kids.
Bono advised the Belfast Telegraph, “I felt as if we have been in the midst of a James Bond film — solely this was actual. It was completely terrifying, and I truthfully thought we have been all going to die.”
The Hemisphere Dancer, a twin-engine Grumman HU-16 Albatross flying boat, took just a few extra bullet holes in its hull and has now been retired from flying, parked as an outside bar and seating space for Margaritaville at Common Orlando Resort’s CityWalk in Florida.
Within the 2006 incident, Buffett was detained in Saint Tropez as a result of French customs officers thought he was carrying greater than 100 ecstasy capsules.
Buffett’s baggage was searched after his personal jet landed at Toulon-Hyeres Worldwide Airport.
Buffett finally paid a $300 high-quality and launched an announcement that the medication considered ecstasy have been a B-vitamin complement often called Foltx.
Licensing permitted
Fee members have been happy with Buffett’s clarification and unanimously permitted his licensing.
Management Board Chairman Mark Liparelli mentioned that whereas the dialog was gentle on the regulatory listening to, Buffett’s utility acquired the identical scrutiny that every one license investigations get. Buffett affirmed that brokers fastidiously scrutinized his file and that he carried out interviews between live performance dates.
Buffett advised me he thought of getting some form of a seaplane operation working in Nevada, presumably at Lake Mead.
“I’ve to inform you, considered one of my fantasies is to get some form of seaplane operation going out right here,” he mentioned. “I’m unsure how I try this, however I’ve thought of it.”
Sadly, Jimmy Buffett received’t have the chance to broaden his enterprise empire within the Silver State.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Observe @RickVelotta on X.
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