Catskills still hope for two
New York’s casino siting board, charged with choosing up to four new casino licensees in the Empire State, continues to ponder its decision. The board was originally slated to announce the winners, who will be chosen from a field of 16 bidders, last month.
“We are definitely still on track for a decision in November,” said Lee Park, spokesman for the Gaming Commission.
Three zones are eligible for the Class III commercial licenses: the Capital Region near Albany; the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes region; and the Hudson Valley/Catskill Mountains area. One of the three areas could get two licenses; the Catskills are a popular choice, and proponents say two casinos could bring back the prosperity enjoyed during the tourism boom of the 1950s and 1960s, the former Borscht Belt era.
Some analysts say New York is too late to the game to see a windfall from casinos; the market in the northeastern U.S. is mature if not saturated, and jurisdictions including Atlantic City have seen rapid declines. A New York Times article on the failed promise of casinos in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains likened it to the pitch being made for the Catskills: “The promises sound equally grandiose: oceans of revenue and taxes, and thousands of new jobs?enough to give a depleted community a sharply different outlook.”
Attorney Steven Kurlander, who grew up in the Catskills, said residents of the region know better than to pin their hopes on a casino cure-all. “We don’t really have high expectations anymore and don’t take any promises of sustenance and wealth very seriously,” he wrote.
Kurlander added, “As the national economy continues an alleged recovery, as the price of gas and heating fuel continues to plummet, and as the gaming industry begins to recover from a significant downturn in profitability, there is indeed great promise that Catskill casinos would help revitalize our area.”
Mohegan Sun, which has entered a bid to develop a resort in the region, has sweetened its bid by offering a percentage of all its revenues to a fund to promote tourism there.
“We will certainly want to welcome back to the Catskills those who themselves, or through their parents and grandparents, have such fond associations with the Catskills in its heyday,” said Mohegan Sun CEO Mitchell Etess, himself a member of the famed Grossinger family of Catskills hoteliers. “But more critical will be ensuring generations of new visitors.”
Other bidders continue to circulate their revenue estimates. Traditions Resort & Casino, which hopes to build a casino in the town of Union, says economic studies suggest it could generate $120 million in its first year, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Tioga Downs, an existing Nichols racino, says it could generate more than $100 million annually, or $35 million per year over its current business if it gets a Class III license. And the Lago Resort and Casino, planned for Tyre, Seneca County by developer Wilmorite Corp., expects to generate more than $260 million in revenue annually.
But Wilmorite is getting some flak on its plan. According to a recent report from Mohawk Valley EDGE, a business development organization in Oneida and Herkimer Counties, the casino would compete directly with the Turning Stone Resort Casino, Vernon Downs, Tioga Downs and Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack.
“It essentially is cutting into existing market share and does not really provide any additive economic benefits,” said Mohawk Valley EDGE President Steve DiMeo. “New York state is expected to see a substantial drop in terms of its share of gaming proceeds.”
Wilmorite disagrees. According to WRVO Public Media, a statement from Board Chairman Tom Wilmot Sr. called the study “fraudulent.” He said the siting board should not be “swayed by the whining of those who have benefited from a monopoly.”
Jeff Gural, owner of Tioga Downs, is confident his bid will be among the four chosen by the state. Still, he hopes the waiting will end soon. “I’m not on pins and needles, because I honestly expect to win,” Gural said. “Maybe I’m naive, but I will certainly feel better when they do make the announcement.”
