Bowing to pressure from New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), the Gaming Facility Location Board is starting the clock on a new round of bidding for casinos in the 
state’s thinly populated Southern Tier. It didn’t draw much interest last time. Only Tioga Downs and Traditions at the Glen Resort (which has withdrawn from consideraton) stepped up to the plate. Ergo, the Location Board decided to withhold the fourth of four gaming concessions.
“Governor Cuomo initially supported the decision, saying that a casino was not likely to spur economic development in the relatively sparsely populated area near Binghamton. But after hearing criticism from elected officials and local residents, Mr. Cuomo asked the board to consider a new round of bidding for a casino license specifically for the Southern Tier,” reports the New York Times. Not a very resolute fellow, this Cuomo.
Location Board Chairman Kevin Law warned that whatever crosses the transom in this second round of bidding had better be superior to what the state was offered the first time. 
(Even Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural agrees with that, having only contemplated $102 million in improvements in his initial do-it-on-the-quick bid.) And if they’re not, the Location Board still has the discretion of withholding a site award. Law is also standing by the board’s award of concessions to projects in Schenectady, Monticello and Tyre. However, Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy wants in on that third license, as do backers of a proposed Nevele resort-casino (above). They say they now may have the backing of James Packer‘s RatPac Entertainment. Cuomo has really kicked over a hornet’s nest of problems by second-guessing the Location Board’s work.
* Can a high-tech computer company succeed without an American presence? It certainly can if it’s Luke Alvarez‘s Inspired Gaming Group. Founded in 2001, it has grown not only in its own United Kingdom (where 65% of adults gamble), where it supplies nearly 17,000 fixed-odds terminals for betting shops. Inspired boasts that its products can be found in 40,000 locations and on 200 mobile sites worldwide, and it counts William Hill and Paddy Power amongst its clients. In Italy, Inspired commands 90% of the online and terrestrial sports-betting market but its biggest coup to date has to be a pact to supply its electronic sports games to China‘s national lottery. (Next stop: the Philippines.)
Given the economic instability, governments need to raise taxes from as many sources as possible,” Alvarez says, explaining his company’s growth. Since sports betting is Inspired’s bread-and-butter product line, we probably shouldn’t look for them on U.S. shores — or in American cyberspace — anytime soon.
* We Las Vegans thought we’d hit the jackpot when we drew an estimated 40 million visitors last year but revised calculations put the count above 41 million and the Las Vegas Convention Visitors Authority hopes to draw an additional half-million next year. Alaska 
Airlines, Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, Virgin America and Southwest Airlines have all announced increases in air capacity and a sunny economic forecast is expected to further boost tourism.
Hotel-casinos were quick to capitalize on last year’s bonanza, with revenue per available room up 8%. The LVCVA is also projecting a big infusion of hotel rooms in 2017 … provided that Genting Group gets cracking on Resorts World Las Vegas. (Now with 100% less activity than last year!) For two years now, though, Las Vegas has been the fastest-growing international destination, more than making up for a sated domestic market.
Canada and Mexico are the primary drivers of the additional visitation — so local mugwumps should stop demonizing the Mexicans who are helping keep the lights on in Vegas. (Zurich also turned out to be an unexpected pipeline of Vegas-bound tourists; ditto South Koreans coming by way of Cancun.)
