Although a new horse emerged in the race for the final casino license in New York, only one application was submitted when the dust settled, Jeff Gural’s. Gural is the owner of local racinos Vernon and Tioga Downs, and was rather upset when his proposal wound up on the rejected side last December.
The state decided up to four licenses would be awarded, but ended up only going with three. In the Southern Tier region, the license was awarded to the Finger Lakes region, which drew the ire of politicians and applications alike, including Gural. Several letters and pressure from Gural to the New York State Gaming Commission was enough to re-open the bidding process for a potential fourth casino license.
Now, this by no means is a guarantee the best proposal will be guaranteed a property, but at least gives them a fighting chance. Up until a couple weeks ago, Gural, who submitted a nearly identical proposal as the first time around, was the only one who put a proposal on the table. Out of nowhere, the city of Binghamton fast-tracked approval for Albany-based developer Jeffrey Hyman’s proposal.
While the proposal seemed like a sure bet to be tabled, Hyman found out recently the industrial site he was looking to build on would not be eligible for any of the generous tax credits he had hoped for. Once news swirled, the financers backed out. “This is a tremendous loss for the city of Binghamton,” Mayor Richard C. David said.
State officials, however, insisted no changes in tax credit regulations would have affected the site whatsoever. The Department of Environmental Conservation said in a statement, “Plan and simple, their information is incorrect.”
Hyman declared his project had been worth “well over $100 million,” and said, “We’re pretty disappointed. This was going to be a seismic project, not just for Binghamton, but for the whole Southern Tier.”
Gural feels one of the main reasons he was not awarded a license was due to the fact he did not include the cost of buying and renovating Tioga Downs in his initial bid. He claims to have learned from his mistakes the first time around, and has changed a few things this time. The proposal now describes the project as a $195 million casino with 1,000 slot machines, 50 blackjack tables, a 161-room hotel and six restaurants.
He also promised the site would provide hundreds of jobs, tax revenue to go towards education and $1.5 million annually for local nonprofit organizations. The area could definitely use the jobs, as it is one of the many economically depressed regions around the country. “We would be hiring people almost immediately,” he said.
One would think that the lack of competition for proposals would be a good thing for Gural, but casino consultant Paul Girvan said the fact nobody else stepped forward with a proposal is a troubling sign, and reflects uncertainty in a market which has grown increasingly saturated over the past few years.
“You can’t open a casino now without impacting revenue at another facility. Financing is the difficult part. We’re in a different world now.” A decision from the Gaming Commission is expected this fall.
