Empire Resorts and EPR Proposed a Casino on the Site of the Old Concord Hotel in the Catskills
A total of 17 different bidders paid the $1 million fee to submit a casino license application. Back in April, 22 application fees were submitted. Several groups paid fees for more than one casino project. Since April, five of the proposals were abandoned. In the coming weeks, all 17 applicants will have the chance to make a presentation to the panel chosen to decide who wins the licenses. A final decision on all 4 potential licenses will be announced this autumn.
The four licenses up for bidding are designated for four particular areas of New York state: the Catskills area, the Hudson Valley area, a strip running from Binghampton northwest to Lake Ontario, and the Albany area. State regulators have stipulated each region can have no more than 2 casinos.
This means that one or two of the regions might receive no license whatsoever. Several of the bidders have complained that a Hudson Valley casino would weight the odds against the other regions. Casino plans in the Hudson Valley involve about twice as much money as those plans further upstate, which the gaming regulators might find difficult to ignore.
One plan is an exception to that formula. The sheer size of a plan for the Catskills is likely to give it solid chances of being chosen.
Catskills Region Casino Bids
Empire Resorts and EPR Properties, a real-estate investment trust, have a joint bid for a $1 billion project for the Catskills area. The Empire Resorts casino would be on the site of the closed Concord Hotel. Originally, the development plan called for a $750 project.
The Empire Resorts plan is the largest development proposal reported so far. Empire and EPR are banking that such an ambitious design is going to make their application hard to turn down.
Hudson Valley: Caesars vs. Penn National/Cordish vs. Saratoga Raceway
Caesars Entertainment posted an $880 million bid for a casino in Orange County, about 50 miles outside of New York City. This is the Woodbury casino project which has gotten so much discussion. Many operators say a casino so close to New York City would be too much of an advantage for the operator, while putting all others at a significant disadvantage.
Given the prime location, several rival bids have been made for the Orange County area. Penn National Gaming Inc. has a rival $750 million development plan for Orange County. The Cordish Company, a real estate development and entertainment operating company out of Baltimore, is partners with Penn National on their $750 million casino development plan for Orange County.
Rush Street Gaming and Saratoga Casino & Raceway are partnering on a deal for casino resort in Newburgh, which is also in Orange County. Of these four gaming and property development companies seeking an Orange County license, a maximum of two will be successful.
Catskills Casino: Mohegan Tribe vs. Claremont Partners
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority submitted a $550 million proposal for a resort casino in the Catskills, specifically in the city of Thompson in Sullivan County. The Mohegan Tribe is working with Louis Cappelli of Cappelli Enterprises on their plan. Louis R. Cappelli is a real estate developer with a portfolio exceeding $3 billion. He works out of Valhalla in Westchester County.
A rival bid to the Mohegan Tribe was submitted by Claremont Partners. Claremont’s proposal calls for a $640 million casino project in Ellenville in Ulster County.
Hard Rock Casino near Albany
In the upstate region, Hard Rock International proposed a $300 million casino project for Rensselaer nearby Albany. Rensselaer is a town of about 10,000 which lies on the opposite bank of the Hudson River from Albany. The $300 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino would bring over a thousand jobs to the metropolitan area around the state capital.
Since 2007, Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. One of the most famous properties in the chain of hotels, restaurants, and casino resorts is not owned by the Seminoles. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is owned by the Morgans Hotel Group, which is based in New York City. It is the Seminole Tribe of Florida which is applying for the Renssalaer casino rights.
July 21 Hearings
On July 21 or before, all bidders receive a chance to make an oral presentation to the New York Gaming Facility Location Board, a panel appointed specifically for this process. The Gaming Facility Location Board works under the auspices of the New York State Gaming Commission (which appointed the panel). The winning bids are set to be announced in fall 2014.
