New York’s del Lago Resort and Casino has brought in industry veteran Mark Juliano to try to right the ship at the struggling Finger Lakes property. But ownership continues to hit rough waters in Albany in its efforts to secure tax breaks to keep the place afloat.
Rochester shopping mall magnate Thomas Wilmot, the resort’s principal backer, met earlier this month with members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget division. It was at least the second trip to the capital this spring for Wilmot and it doesn’t appear to have been any more successful than his previous visits.
“I think we need some help at this point,” he said after the most recent meeting, “and what the future holds, time will tell.”
Since opening in February 2017, the $440 million del Lago has missed its revenue projections by significant amounts. After coming up $147 million short in its first year Moody’s Investors Service warned that “without a substantial improvement in revenue, del Lago will not be able to achieve a level of performance that can support its existing debt capital structure”.
In March, Wilmot said the casino was paying the bills, but, “Long term, it isn’t going to be sustainable without some help.”
So far, neither Cuomo nor leading lawmakers have been amenable.
“They’re private concerns, and I don’t want to get into the business of bailing out private concerns,” the governor told reporters at the time.
“If they have a beef, it’s with their consultants who did the numbers,” said Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, who chairs the Racing and Wagering Committee in the lower house.
Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Catharine Young, meanwhile, has introduced legislation that would require del Lago and the state’s three other commercial casinos to disclose a wide variety of information about their vendor contracts, debts and executives’ salaries to an “independent financial monitor” if they want a tax reduction.
“State leaders, and most importantly — taxpayers — have a right to expect full transparency on the part of any casino that is seeking state funds or tax breaks,” Young said.
Like the other casinos del Lago pays the state 37 percent of gross revenue from its machine games and 10 percent of table game revenue.
del Lago operates in a heavily competitive market populated by three Seneca Nation casinos and two racinos to the west and three Oneida Nation casinos to the east, so Juliano will have his work cut out for him.
He brings to the task 30 years of experience, most recently as president of Las Vegas Sands’ Sands Bethlehem in eastern Pennsylvania, that state’s table games revenue leader with a strong focus on Asian play from across the Northeast.
Prior to joining Sands Bethlehem Juliano served as a senior vice president and chief casino officer for LVS’ Singapore megaresort, Marina Bay Sands.
He has also held executive positions at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and at Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City.
del Lago COO Aaron Gomes said, “Mark’s pedigree in the resort and casino industry, coupled with his role in economic development initiatives in and around New Jersey, brings the ideal mix of casino and resort operation and community experience. He’s perfectly positioned to support not only the continued growth of our property, but our region, as well.”
