Poarch Tribe completes Miami's Magic City Casino purchase

PCI Gaming Authority’s purchase of the Magic City Casino has closed. A deed recorded Monday in Miami-Dade County lists the sale price as $96 million, though experts have estimated the full value of the deal to be closer to $600 million, as reported by the Miami Herald. 

The property includes a license to operate slot machines, poker and electronic casino games in Miami. PCI, owned by the Alabama-based Poarch Band of Creek Indians, purchased the property from the Havenick family, which has owned the site since the 1950s. 

The 305,624-square-foot casino is located southeast of Miami International Airport at 450 NW 37th Avenue, across the street from where Terra is currently redeveloping a strip mall and parking lot into a mixed-use development. 

The casino property sits on 30 acres. Wind Creek Hospitality, a subsidiary of PCI, plans to redevelop the site into a luxury resort adjacent to the casino, according to the aforementioned source. 

Wind Creek President and CEO Jay Dorris explained that the redevelopment would likely feature a shopping mall and “experience-oriented attractions.” 

PCI owns two casinos in Alabama and gambling resorts in Aruba and Curacao, as well as a greyhound permit and a card room in Pensacola and a barrel-racing operation and poker room in Gretna. In 2019, the company bought the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for $1.3 billion. 

In February, the newly formed Florida Gaming Control Commission approved the sale of the Miami gambling permit to PCI, ordering the deal to close within the next 30 days.