New York lawmakers and union casino workers are urging state officials to award three casino licenses in the New York City area sooner rather than later. The three would deliver a nice payday for the government in terms of license fees—upwards of $750 million per license.
“Issuing full gaming casino licenses downstate has moved to the top of my agenda,” said Gary Pretlow, chairman of the state Assembly Committee on Gaming and Wagering.
Pretlow sees Genting’s Resorts World gambling parlor at Aqueduct racetrack and MGM’s Empire City slots parlor at Yonkers Raceway winning two of the three as they already have facilities. They feature slot-style video lottery terminal games.
“They’re already up and running. They have the room to add table games and the resources to pay the license fee,” Pretlow said of the locations.
State Senator Joseph Addabbo opposes a Manhattan location because the borough already serves as a tourist hotspot with clubs, dining, and the Broadway theater district, according to the New York Post.
“With a smart, responsible approach to new casino licenses, we have the opportunity to put unemployed hospitality workers back to work while also giving our economy a much-needed boost,” said Rich Maroko, president of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council Union. “What we need now is for our state leaders to step up and give us the tools to protect workers and create new employment opportunities.”
Resorts World at Aqueduct, which recently opened a hotel, said it’s eager to obtain a license to expand its casino operations to include table games like blackjack, baccarat, craps, and poker.
“Between the upcoming launch of our mobile sports platform and the potential for a full casino license in Queens, we couldn’t be more excited about the future of gaming in New York and the economic benefits it will bring people across the city and state,” Resorts World said in a statement.
Upstate New York has 11 casinos that offer slots, table games, sports betting, and a host of entertainment amenities. Seven are run by Indian nations, and four are private commercial casinos licensed by the state.
The closest casino to the city in New York state is the Resorts World Catskills Casino about 100 miles away. The three other commercial state-licensed casinos are Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, del Lago Resort & Casino near Waterloo in the Finger Lakes and Tioga Downs in Nichols near Binghamton.
One gambling expert said the expansion of gambling to the New York City area would be a lucrative draw but could siphon revenues and players or even trigger closings of one or more of the upstate casinos, said Clyde Barrow, a political science professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
New York’s commercial gaming law, passed in 2013, authorized as many as seven land-based casinos with slot machines and table games. Four were allocated upstate, and those locations were given a 10-year monopoly on commercial casino gaming in New York to build their customer bases.
Even without the downstate casinos, the four upstate properties in New York have not been a success based on pre-opening forecasts. The shortfall has affected paying debt service at Resorts World and del Lago.
Putting it all together, Barrow thinks odds favor the end of at least one of the four once the New York City area casinos open. Upstate New York also has three tribal casinos and six VGT locations.
Along with the four commercial casinos, upstate New York is home to three tribal casinos.
“Casinos in the New York City area will do very well, that’s where the population is,” Barrow said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if one or two of the existing upstate facilities go out of business. Downstate New York is where the population is. But it’s almost inevitable that upstate casinos would close. It’s just a question of when and how.”
