{"id":15243,"date":"2014-12-18T12:31:38","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T20:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15243"},"modified":"2021-08-04T06:47:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T14:47:53","slug":"many-called-few-chosen-for-new-york-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/many-called-few-chosen-for-new-york-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Many called, few chosen for New York casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Count mega-budget offerings from\u00a0Genting Group<\/strong> and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> among the marquee-name dismissals<\/a>\u00a0in the New York\u00a0Gaming Facility Location Board<\/strong>‘s final \"HRH<\/a>cut of casino applicants. Also going into the circular file were a second Genting project (Resorts World Hudson Valley<\/strong>), along with a Penn National Gaming<\/strong>\/Cordish Gaming<\/strong> joint venture, and proposals from Full House Resorts<\/strong>, Churchill Downs<\/strong>, Mohegan Sun<\/strong> and a Hard Rock<\/strong>-branded project (right<\/em>). It was a bad day from brand names, who generally got swept from the board. Considering Mohegan Sun CEO Mitchell Etess<\/strong>‘ family’s decades-long connection to the Catskills<\/strong>, that rejection must have been especially painful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Orange County<\/strong> went 0-for-six, as site-choosers feared a casino there would have a deleterious effect on any located further west in the Catskills. Instead, the board opted for\u00a0Genting sibling\u00a0Empire Resorts<\/strong>‘ proposal (2,150 slots, 61 tables, 391 hotel rooms) for Sullivan County<\/strong>, $630 million<\/a> Montreign Casino Resort<\/strong>, near its existing Monticello Casino & Raceway <\/strong>…\u00a0so it wasn’t a total loss for Kien Huat Realty<\/strong>, which also dominates Genting ownership<\/a>. (Mohegan Sun had been moving dirt back and forth on its site, in a last-minute attempt to show the board it was ‘shovel ready.’)<\/p>\n

Despite having a mandate to award four casino sites, the location board chose but\u00a0three. Said Chairman Kevin Law<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cWe have sought to select those proposals that would maximize \"neil-bluhm\"<\/a>prospects for sustained success and be in the best overall position for the state of New York.\u201d The remaining two were a $300 million Schenectady\u00a0proposal from Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s Rush Street Gaming<\/strong> (1,150 slots, 66 tables and 150 rooms) and, in the Finger Lakes<\/strong> region, $425 million Lago Resort & Casino<\/strong> (85 tables, 2,000 slots), a project of local developer Wilmorite Inc<\/strong>. A second proposal by Bluhm (left<\/em>), for Newburgh<\/strong>, was among the also-rans.<\/p>\n

Racino owners openly fumed.\u00a0\u201cThe board\u2019s actions are a slap in the face to both the Southern Tier and Central New York residents,\u201d raged Vernon Downs<\/strong>‘ Gary Greenberg<\/strong>. Added Jeff Gural<\/strong>, who wanted to upgrade Tioga Downs<\/strong> to a full casino,\u00a0\u201cI feel sorry for the people of Oneida County<\/strong>.\u00a0The state gave the Oneidas [Indians] exclusivity rights. Then they put two casinos on either side of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saratoga Casino & Raceway<\/strong> sent a mixed message<\/a> on the impact of the Schenectady casino.\u00a0\u201cI expect that it will have a significant impact on [Saratoga] casino operations and will ultimately result in some significant downsizing. I do not expect it to have an affect on harness racing,\u201d said Secretary\u00a0James Featherstonhaugh<\/strong>. Besides, Bluhm will have to \"horse\"<\/a>make “supplementation” of any future shortfalls in Saratoga harness-racing purses. The track is cancelling a planned concert hall but proceeding with a hotel\/spa.<\/p>\n

Board member Charles Wait<\/strong> cited the romance of the Sport of Kings,\u00a0\u201cFortunately for Saratoga, the entertainment at our racetrack is as much about the sport as it is about the gambling. Also, we have had a casino next to us at the harness track and that casino has not hurt thoroughbred racing. I think the negative impact will be most heavily felt by the racino.\u201d Some argued that, with the right marketing, the thoroughbred meet might benefit from Bluhm’s proximity. Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> President Todd Shimkus<\/strong> warned, \u201cComplacency is a disaster we have to avoid. We can\u2019t just continue giving people the things we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing a slowdown in national gaming-revenue growth from 5% to 1% over the 2012-13 period, Bloomberg News<\/strong> cast doubt on the casinos-to-be’s ability to achieve the burden of economic revival placed upon them by Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/strong> (D). With 14 casinos, racinos and slot parlors already, New York is not exactly starved for gambling. The three winning bidders forecast $302 million, $222.5 million and $282 million in gaming revenues, respectively, in 2019. Between them, they predict they’ll deliver $265 million in taxes to the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Count mega-budget offerings from\u00a0Genting Group and Caesars Entertainment among the marquee-name dismissals\u00a0in the New York\u00a0Gaming Facility Location Board‘s final cut of casino applicants. Also going into the circular file were a second Genting project (Resorts World Hudson Valley), along with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,70,14,120,165,7,67,22,167,91,101,69,111,31,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15243"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29912,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15243\/revisions\/29912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}