Downstate New York getting casino gaming
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(The Center Square) – Casino gaming is coming to downstate New York. The only questions are when it will happen and whether all three available licenses will be issued.
A panel of gaming experts, including Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, and former Gov. David Paterson, came up with split decisions on those questions during a conference Tuesday morning in Saratoga Springs.
Paterson, senior vice president for Las Vegas Sands Corp., told attendees at The Racing and Gaming Conference he believes all three licenses will be awarded for locations in or around New York City. However, don’t expect any bets to be placed in one by the end of next year.
“Because of the time that seems to be inherent in the process,” he said.
That process includes a local level decision-making process. This includes the sitting state senator, state assembly member, council representative serving on a six-member board, and the New York State Gaming Commission.
For the state to consider an application for a license, the application will first need two-thirds approval from the local board.
The licenses won’t come cheap. The law sets a minimum price of $500 million for each.
Many expect the state to award two licenses to MGM Resorts International, which owns Empire City Casino at the Yonkers Raceway, and Genting Group, which operates Resorts World Casino New York City at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Both existing venues host thousands of video lottery terminals, which operate differently than Las Vegas-style slot machines. They also cannot offer live-dealer table games, like blackjack or roulette.
If BetMGM and Resorts World do land licenses, that would likely expedite the process for at least one of them to transform into a full-fledged casino – meaning table games offerings – by the end of next year.
Las Vegas Sands is one of several companies interested in obtaining a license. Sands, MGM and Genting were among eight that responded to a request for information the Gaming Commission issued late last year.
Pretlow, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering, told participants he’s heard from sources that the Gaming Commission believes it will take years because of an understanding that all three licenses have to be awarded at the same time.
“That’s not the intention of the legislation,” he said. “That needs to be corrected and will be corrected.”
Pretlow added the commission is under the gun to produce the solicitation that will kickstart the process to identify up to three awards. However, he believes the state should not necessarily award all three in short order and hold off on awarding the final license when the state needs the funding.
Jeff Gural, a New York real estate developer who owns the Tioga Downs Casino Resort in Nichols, said he doubted a casino would be awarded in Manhattan, where there is opposition. He also owns the Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment harness racing track and sportsbook across from New York City in East Rutherford, N.J.
“Anyone trying for that," Gural said, "is just wasting their time, in my opinion.”
