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Mickey Mouse and the rest of the Disney gang were red-faced this weekend after the New York Times outed the family theme park company for its apparent role in Florida gambling.
The Times reported that a portion of the profits derived from licensing Spider-Man and Iron Man slot games went right back in the pockets of Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The Walt Disney Company acquired the Marvel brand comics and associated branded characters for $4 billion in 2009.
And here is where the situation gets especially convoluted.
Disney, you see, has long led efforts to prevent casino expansion in the state of Florida.
This year is no exception, writes The Times Lizette Alvarez:
For the second time in two years, state lawmakers are preparing to decide whether Las Vegas-style resort casinos should be allowed to open in Florida, a move that Disney hopes to thwart again. The company is so opposed to gambling that not even Disney cruise ships offer casinos, a mainstay of major cruise liners.
But in a nation increasingly awash in various forms of gambling, Disney is finding that keeping a constantly growing entertainment conglomerate completely removed from gambling is far more challenging than it used to be.
For its part, Marvel says it will sever ties with casinos once current licensing agreements run out.
Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk and others will begin to disappear from casinos and Internet gambling sites over the next “few years,” a spokeswoman told the Times.
“Marvel discontinued plans to initiate or renew slot machine licensing arrangements as part of its integration with Disney,” the spokeswoman said. “The handful of remaining license agreements have expiration dates within the next few years.”
A spokeswoman for Walt Disney World, Andrea M. Finger, told The New York Times it could take several years for policies to align after two corporations merged, always a complex endeavor, noting that recent policy regarding the termination of Marvel licensing agreements with casinos had only recently been enacted.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
