While opponents criticize Donald Trump for four failed casinos, they neglect to mention the keen eye he had two decades ago for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, whose gaming operations now net more than $2 billion per year.
In early 1996, when the tribe’s main income was derived from its Hollywood bingo hall, Trump courted tribal chairman James Billie. Trump visited the tribe’s reservation in the middle of the Everglades, and even recruited Billie to help open for the Beach Boys at a huge gathering at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
“He said ‘I want to build your casino’ and he gave Chief Billie his personal cell number,” said Peter Gallagher, a special assistant to Billie.
Gallagher happened to be standing near the entryway at the Seminoles’ Big Cypress Reservation, partway between Fort Lauderdale and Naples, when Trump’s limousine pulled up for the first time.
“He and his associates visited with Chief Billie for hours, and everyone got hungry for lunch,” Gallagher said. “So we cooked up a big plate of wild game, rattlesnake, squirrel and venison, and everybody ate it.” The reservation restaurant is named Swamp Water Café.
Gallagher said he laughed when former Governor Jeb Bush mentioned Trump’s interest in building a casino in Florida and Trump then flatly denied it.
“I just told my friends, ‘Hey, I was there,’” said Gallagher, not disclosing his voting preference. Bush became governor in 1998 and then squashed all attempts at casino expansion.
But after Trump’s visit, Billie, a guitar player in the band of blues-folks-swamp icon Raiford Starke, was on stage with the band when it played for about 45 minutes in Palm Beach at a huge Trump soiree, preceding the Beach Boys and a video broadcast of a Mike Tyson fight.
“Trump himself greeted us and offered to carry in my guitar case,” said Starke (real name: Colin Kenny), who now plays four nights a week around his home near Marco Island. “I don’t know who I’m voting for, but that impressed me.”
Trump also flew Billie and other Seminoles to his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, where they were given front-row seats at a Rod Stewart concert. He also made Billie a judge in the Miss Universe contest in Doral.
But Trump and the Seminoles were unable to reach a deal, and former Trump employees left to join the Kordish Corp, which eventually became the Seminoles’ partner for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, which opened in 2004.
Trump sued Kordish, settling out of court, and the Seminoles eventually bought out Kordish. For fiscal year 2014-15, the tribe’s seven casinos in Florida cleared about $2.3 billion.
Trump’s trip to the tribe came just as the U.S. Supreme Court was set to rule in a landmark case that would pave the way for casinos on reservations across the country
“Trump had some foresight I sure didn’t have,” Gallagher said. “But we have done very well, and I don’t think we could have a better person running things.” Gallagher was referring to Seminole Gaming CEO James Allen.
Trump’s legacy remains at the Big Cypress reservation, though. It seems that shortly after The Donald’s visit, Billie encountered an especially feisty gator, a fighter with a Type A personality and a lust for territorial dominance.
The gator is still around, in captivity. Billie named him “Trump”.
