Some developers say Orange County will “kill” other casinos
How did Sullivan County become the site of six proposed casinos, including the most extravagant proposals, like Genting’s $1.5 billion resort proposed for the city of Tuxedo?
According to the Goshen-Chester Chronicle, the legislation endorsed by Governor Andrew Cuomo and approved by voters in 2013 mainly focused on building casinos in Sullivan County, the former Borscht Belt set in the Catskill Mountains.
The Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act was designed to bring new business and jobs to struggling parts of the state. Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering, told the Chronicle, “The real intent has been to uplift Sullivan County. That’s where, in my view, the casinos would be helpful.”
Pretlow said “Orange County was never in the mix” when he helped draft the legislation, and the change was made afterward, by the governor.
“The legislative intent should have excluded Orange County,” Pretlow said. “We wanted to put it where people were suffering.”
State Senator William J. Larkin Jr. said Cuomo “added on Orange County” into the 2013 casino legislation. “None of us requested it,” Larkin said. “It was his decision.”
Orange County is located on the lower end of the Hudson Valley region, one of three development areas designated for casinos by the state (the other two are the Capital Region and the Southern Tier). But casino developers outside Orange County say its proximity to New York City would siphon off the patron base and prevent people from traveling farther upstate, especially to the Catskill Mountains, also in the Hudson Valley.
Taryn Duffy, spokeswoman for the proposed Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway, has said an Orange County casino “would be a poison pill for any economic development in the Catskills”; Empire City CFO Wayne Smith said if Genting Americas is granted a license to build its proposed $1.5 billion casino, it would be a “death knell” for his planned development.
One Sullivan County official is still confident the Catskills will prevail and win two of the four available casino licenses. County Legislator Ira Steingart, chairman of the Community and Economic Development Committee, told the Mid-Hudson News last week that the county made the best presentation to the siting committee.
“We gave a very compelling argument that it’s not only the right thing, it’s the intent of the law, but it is also right for a revenue stream to the state,” Steingart said, adding that two casinos on adjacent properties near the old Concord Hotel site would make both more successful.
“I think that’s a plus, not a minus,” Steingart said. “I think that will generate more revenue for both of them, and in combination, will generate as much revenue to the state as any other casino.”
Meanwhile, Leonard Distel, Supervisor of the town of Wawarsing, made an all-out plea for a casino license. The Nevele project is the only casino development proposed for Ulster County. Writing in the Shawagunk Journal, Distel said, “Our community has a staggeringly high 18 percent unemployment rate. …. The entire community has time and time again declared in one voice, ‘We want and need the Nevele Casino!’ … Please support a casino at the Nevele and help us begin an economic revival.”
Meanwhile, amid opposition from clergy, environmental groups and preservationists, another quarter has been heard from: the Amish. According to the New York Times, Amish residents who live between Syracuse are united in their opposition to a proposed casino in Tyre, Seneca County.
“Gambling goes against the teaching of the Bible,” said Bishop David Schwartz, “and the fruits of gambling are all bad.”
In a letter, leaders of the Old Order Amish wrote that they “humbly ask you not to let a casino be built” in the area.
Ronald F. McGreevy, the town supervisor and supporter of the $425 million Lago Resort and Casino plan, said the Amish “are being used, for lack of a better term, by this small anti-casino group (Casino-Free Tyre), saying if we do this, this casino is going to be the end of life as we know it.”
“Tyre deserves a chance to survive,” he said.
