Aqueduct

Image from: Queens tenants at condo had to pay fees and fines to Mafia thugs

The Predators who promote the virtues of state-sponsored gambling addiction as a revenue source have said some pretty damn funny things, but Ozone Park as Destination Resort???

Now, that is funny!

The ensuing controversy is nothing more than predictable by New York standards.

Aqueduct --

After nine years, the long wait for a VLT casino at Aqueduct may be nearing an end.

"After an extensive review of the five remaining bids to operate the video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack, I have chosen and the (legislative) Leaders have agreed (upon) the organization that best fulfills our selection criteria," Governor Paterson said Friday in announcing Aqueduct Enter¬tainment Group (AEG) as the state’s choice.

Nothing is definite, however.

AEG still must meet sever¬al conditions, including forking over an additional $100 million for the licensing fee. In addition, everyone involved with the casino project must undergo a vetting process that will deny licenses to "anyone who has been convicted of a series of major or minor crimes over the past 15 years." (One or two crimes, or maybe even three, are evi¬dently okay.)

Who is AEG? According to its Web site, the organization’s partners include The Navegante Group, a major casino developer and operator; GreenStar Services Corporation; Turner Construction Company; Levine Builders; The Darman Group; Empowerment Development Corporation; Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor Design; Siemens; and Clairvest Group Inc.

The selection of AEG has met with protests from losing bidders - one of which, Penn National Gaming, offered $100 million more than AEG - as well as charges of political and personal favoritism. No construction timetable has been announced. However, given the nature of this sort of project, the Aqueduct casino should be shovel-ready for at least one segment of the work force - lawyers.

AEG’s Web site provides site plans and sketches of what its "world class gaming and entertainment destination" will look like upon completion.

There will be bars and restaurants, stores, an entertainment center, conference rooms, a 300-room hotel and seven "neighborhoods of VLTs." For some reason, there also will be an "internal sustainable rainforest atrium."

What is difficult to find is any indication that all of this will be happening at a racetrack. One drawing does show the clubhouse as well as - on the drawing’s edge, seemingly added as an afterthought - thin, squiggly lines showing the approximate location of the turf track and a single dirt track. But where are the grandstand, walking ring and saddling area? Will people still be able to watch races from the apron?

But these are mere details. The important thing now is to get the slots up and humming, the busloads of eager electronic gamers shipped in from the suburbs, and funds from their losing plays distributed to a cash-poor state government and racing industry.

Actually, there is one other nod to horse racing included in AEG’s plans. Squeezed between two neighborhoods of VLTs on the third deck, occupying about as much floor space as the ground level of the internal sustainable rain¬forest atrium, will be the Aqueduct Racing Museum.

This is where the more curious and mobile of the slots players may learn about the "wonderful history of the Sport of Kings in New York." It is where they might view exhibits on such New York legends as Kelso, Buckpasser, Damascus, Dr. Fager and Forego, each of whom ran in more races at Aqueduct - 82 between them - than at any other track.

But all of these exploits took place a long time ago, back when the horses were all the Big A had to offer, before OTB, TVG and the NTRA, and decades before anyone envisioned Ozone Park as a destination resort.




New York Aqueduct Slots Contract Under Scrutiny

This installment of The Tribes In The Media is a New York Daily News article on federal officials probing into the selection of a group to build and run a slot parlor at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, N.Y. The Mohegans participated in two bidding processes but came up empty each time.

Feds galloping into probe of controversial Aqueduct racino deal

ALBANY - The feds are trying to get losing bidders in the Aqueduct racino deal to dish about the chaotic process that led to the selection of a politically tied group, the Daily News has learned.

One losing contender said the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office contacted his group this week - the latest twist in the mushrooming scandal.

"The guy said, 'We're contemplating a further inquiry into the racino bid process: If we go ahead with that, would you guys be willing to cooperate with us?'" the bidder disclosed.

"We said that it wasn't much of a process, but, yes, if you ask us to, of course we'd cooperate."

Prosecutors recently subpoenaed the state Lottery Division for documents related to the Aqueduct project bid process, although aides to Gov. Paterson insist the probe is unrelated to the racino deal.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office wouldn't confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into Aqueduct.

Outraged bidders who lost out to Aqueduct Entertainment Group describe a rudderless selection system that made a mockery of the whole deal.

Gov. Paterson picked AEG just days after one key investor,the politically influential Queens Rev. Floyd Flake, left open the possibility of endorsing state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for governor.

Paterson has insisted he was impartial.

State Inspector General Joseph Fisch has launched a separate probe into the tumultuous bidding process.

Fisch does not have criminal jurisdiction. His office has been in contact with the federal prosecutors to ensure they don't step over each other, sources said.

State documents released Tuesday show AEG changed key parts of its bid just days after a private consultant ranked the group as dead-last in anticipated revenues.

The consultant's report, delivered to Team Paterson on Sept.18, found that AEG's $2.9billion estimated cash haul by 2022-23 was the lowest offered by the six candidates.

Five days later, AEG revised its numbers so the group would rank first, with $3.6 billion in anticipated revenue.

"I'm not a great believer of coincidence and the timing ofthat strikes me as pretty transparent," groused James Featherstonhaugh, an investor with losing bidder Delaware North.

AEG officials insist they were unaware of the consultant's conclusions when they altered the bid.