At Several Times, Cuomo Said He Would Not Interfere with the Panel’s Decisions
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reversed an earlier decision to stay out of the bidding process of land-based casino licenses when he wrote a December 26 letter to the gaming panel suggesting it should reconsider a Southern Tier casino. Now, constituents in other struggling New York cities are expressing anger that Cuomo would choose the Southern Tier over their communities, which they believe are more deserving.
New York voters gave the state’s Gaming Commission the right to offer up to four licenses for new casinos. The commission authorized a siting panel to determine where those licenses should be awarded, if at all. Sixteen different real estate development firms and gaming companies spent $1 million apiece to submit a license proposal. In December 2014, the panel awarded three of those applicants with licenses: in Schenectady, in Tyre, Seneca County, and in Thompson, Sullivan County.
Awarded Three Licenses
The panel split the three licenses among three regions which had been stipulated: the Albany area, the Southern Tier, and the Catskills/Orange County area. At the time, the officials involved said they had opted against a fourth casino, citing concerns over saturation of the market. They pointed to the troubles encountered by Atlantic City’s casinos (four closed last year) and the two mega-casino in Connecticut, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.
Many observers were surprised that the Orange County had not received a license, because the most lucrative proposals had been offered there. Months of speculation had centered around the Orange County plans, due to the lucrative nature any such casino would involve. When the siting panel’s plans became known, they were lauded for choosing small local developers over the nationwide or international gaming companies, like Caesars Entertainment or Genting Limited Group.
Gov. Cuomo’s Suggestions
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s open letter seems to have incensed leaders in Orange County. He wrote that the Gaming Facility Location Board, “should quickly establish a process for the fourth license that could be completed as expeditiously as possible as the Southern Tier needs jobs and investment now.”
The Gaming Facility Location Board announced today that it would meet this coming Tuesday, January 13, to consider Cuomo’s request. Now that it is, many can’t help but point out that Gov. Cuomo seems to be choosing the Southern Tier cities over the Catskills and Orange County. Leaders in those communities are expressing their displeasure. They also note that Cuomo said as recently as a month and a half ago that he would not get involved in the process.
Newburgh Mayor Takes Exception
Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy suggests the location board should open up bidding for all three regions, for the sake of fairness. She points out that her own community, which is located in Orange County, has a 28% unemployment rate. Mayor Kennedy feels like Newburgh has as big of a need as any other New York municipality for a job-creating casino.
Newburgh was one of those cities considered among the 16 casino license plans. Not only would such a casino development created jobs on the construction end of things, but it would create permanent jobs for thousands of residents. Also, such a casino would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. A certain percentage of that money would go to the city and the county in which it was located.
Orange County City Has 28% Unemployment
Mayor Kennedy says her community needs a casino as much as any place in the Southern Tier, and added, “The issues that are going on in this city scream for that opportunity.”
Kevin Law Speaks
Kevin Law, the chairman of the siting board, said his panel has no plans to reopen bidding in the Catskills or Albany regions. They will reconsider plans in the Southern Tier, because of special conditions on the ground.
Law says that reports were overstated that said the panel worried about cannibalization of customer bases if two casinos were placed in Albany or the Catskills. Law said, “There, it wasn’t really a cannibalization issue. We thought only one application was strong, and that was the Lago one. If the other two really wowed us, we could have picked a fourth one there.“
