Cuomo against NYC casinos
The Governor of New York spoke in the state Capitol about expanding casinos to downstate.
US.- By its large number of tourists, it seems obvious that New York City could be one of the most profitable areas in the United States to build casinos. Despite several attempts, the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo said that he is sceptical about it.
Companies like MGM, Genting and Sands have tried in recent days to work with the state Capitol in order to try to get state leaders on their side and drop a moratorium on new casinos before 2023. While MGM believes Yonkers could be a good location to build an Empire City Casino, Genting wants to build a Resorts World in Queens and Sands in the Manhattan area.
However, Cuomo said that he is sceptical about some casino deal put together by casino operators promising billions of dollars. The first and last time the state granted licences was in 2014. The Albany area, Catskills and Finger Lakes were awarded three permits to build casinos. It was later announced that Tioga Downs would receive the fourth licence.
Despite Cuomo’s opposition, a constitutional amendment was passed by voters in 2013. The deal established seven casino licences, therefore there are three that remain to be issued in the state.
Cuomo still needs to discuss the subject with legislative leaders
The governor added that he hasn’t spoken to legislative leaders or casinos about potential changes ahead of this fiscal year. “I’m dubious about it,” Cuomo said of the casino proposals, according to lohud.com. “And it’s a double bank shot: We’re going to open up downstate casinos, and we’re going to give money to the upstate casinos. But we don’t want to bid the licenses. We want to give them to existing enterprises,” he added.
“Look, when we did casinos we were very careful because there’s a lot of money floating around and a lot of lobbyists floating around. And we were very careful to go through a process. It was primarily for upstate New York,” Cuomo said. He added that the goal is to let upstate casinos establish themselves. “Long term, you’re still hurting the long-term competitiveness of those upstate casinos.”
