The governing board of the Long Island town of Islandia has unanimously approved a zoning change for Jake’s 58 Hotel and Casino in hopes of averting a possible shutdown of VLT gaming at the 8-month-old property.
The 5-0 vote came in response to a lawsuit filed by opponents of the casino, who won a ruling in September from a state Supreme Court judge that the board acted improperly in allowing the casino because local hotels weren’t zoned for gaming at the time the board issued Jake’s a gaming permit.
The casino operates on the site of Suffolk County’s off-track betting parlor. The OTB, which has struggled financially, was joined with an adjacent Marriott and rebranded under the ownership of Delaware North, which combined the properties and opened the gaming portion in March with 265 video lottery terminals.
The board argues the gaming is critical to the town’s treasury and the local economy, providing badly needed tax revenues and supporting hundreds of jobs by keeping the OTB’s owners, Suffolk County Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., out of bankruptcy.
Opponents are seeking a court order to close the casino. Attorneys for the town have filed papers indicating they plan to appeal the Supreme Court ruling. It wasn’t certain, however, that the code revision will work to support their cause.
Ira Bezack, an attorney for Jake’s opponents, said such a retroactive change won’t stand up in court.
“This is the classic definition of spot zoning, which the courts have consistently declared to be illegal,” he said. “One illegal action cannot remedy another illegal act.”
