Incapable of learning from experience, lawmakers pursue predatory gambling and delude themselves, just as Massachusetts has, that somehow tourists will flock.
Cuomo deals LI out
Rejects OTB slots in Nassau, Suffolk
- Posted: 1:30 AM, May 17, 2013
Cuomo’s response? No dice.
Joseph G. Cairo, president and CEO of Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp., said the campaign to get state authorization for video slots at Nassau off-track-betting sites is part of a “multifaceted plan” to offer the public a “wider range of gaming options.”
While both counties for years have been lobbying for the proposal, Cuomo spokesman Matthew Wing said the idea wasn’t being discussed as part of casino-gambling talks with legislative leaders.
AP
$PIN THE WHEEL: Gov. Cuomo and Oneida Indian Nation leader Ray Halbritter sign upstate-casino deal yesterday.
But GOP Sen. Dean Skelos of Nassau, the co-head of the state Senate, supports video slots at Belmont Park racetrack.
A spokesman said Skelos has had conversations with Nassau and Suffolk officials about offering slots and is reviewing a bill sponsored by two Long Island lawmakers, Democratic Assemblyman Steven Englebright and Republican Sen. Phil Boyle, promoting the issue.
The measure specifies that such a facility would include “superior consumer amenities and conveniences to encourage and attract the patronage of tourists and other visitors from across the region, state and nation.”
Cuomo’s vision to bring Las Vegas-style casinos to the Empire State includes putting three upstate but none in the Big Apple and its suburbs for at least five years. He argues that downstate casinos “would be eating at the buffet table of an upstate casino.”
Cuomo’s plan also calls for letting a gambling commission — not the Legislature — choose vendors and the sites. A video-slot-machine casino run by Nassau and Suffolk OTBs would allow the Legislature to keep control of patronage jobs at such a gambling emporium.
The state’s existing nine racinos, which offer video slot machines and electronic table games without live dealers, have grown quickly. Racino operators say it makes the most sense to expand their facilities into full-fledged, Vegas-style casinos.
The Resorts World Aqueduct racino in Queens has generated more than $1 billion in total revenue since opening in October 2011, pulling in nearly $2 million a day.
From April 2012 to April 2013, Resorts World posted an impressive, 17 percent revenue increase.
In comparison, slot revenues slid 14 percent in Atlantic City, NJ, and 7 percent in Connecticut and declined for a fifth straight month in Pennsylvania.
“Resorts World Casino has been nothing short of an absolute success for the Queens community,” said Democratic State Sen. James Sanders.
Meanwhile, Cuomo struck a deal with the Oneida Indian Nation to give it exclusive casino rights in central New York in exchange for the state treasury’s receiving 25 percent of slot revenue from the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona. The deal also settles a decades-old land dispute.
Long Island casino in play in NY negotiations
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press
Updated 1:44 pm, Thursday, May 16, 2013
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Support grew Thursday for a proposal to build a casino on Long Island with video slot machines as legislators and the governor negotiated behind closed doors to expand casino gambling in New York.
A legislative bill with majority party sponsors proposes a casino with 2,000 video slot machines run by the off-track betting agencies in Nassau and Suffolk counties. That could cement critical Republican support from the region's senators for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's statewide casino proposal.
"We are working closely with our state delegation to allow a regional video lottery terminal facility," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Thursday. "By operating this facility through a partnership between Nassau and Suffolk OTB, we will ensure that the maximum amount of revenue benefits Long Island residents."
Cuomo and legislative leaders are negotiating a plan to authorize three Las Vegas-style casinos. The idea of a Long Island slots-only casino runs counter to Cuomo's public proposal of placing only three casinos upstate.
"It's huge," Nassau County OTB President and CEO Joseph Cairo told The Associated Press. "The Senate has indicated to me it is part of the discussions of the overall (casino) package."
Cairo, who is also a county Republican committee first vice chairman, said he has spoken to Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County about the proposal, which has quietly been discussed for months in Albany. He said they spoke of a proposal to build a video slot casino on the Nassau-Suffolk line, where it could draw from Long Island's 3 million residents. He said another version would create two facilities, each with 1,000 video slot machines.
"I think the senator is conceptually behind it and I spoke to him many times," Cairo said. "I think it will be on the table for rest of the session."
Within hours of the AP publishing a story about the Long Island casino negotiations, Cairo put out statement contradicting his initial comments on the sensitive, closed-door talks. Cairo, through a spokesman, refused to say why he changed his position or if he had been contacted by the Cuomo administration, which strongly denies the proposal is part of negotiations.
Cuomo spokesman Matt Wing said the Cuomo administration didn't contact Cairo.
Asked about the role of the proposal in closed-door casino negotiations, Skelos' spokeswoman Kelly Cummings said: "We continue to discuss all aspect of the gaming and casino issues in the five weeks that remain in session."
The bill sponsored by Assemblyman Steven Englebright, a Suffolk County Democrat, states the facility would include "superior consumer amenities and conveniences to encourage and attract the patronage of tourists and other visitors from across the region, state and nation." He didn't respond to a request for comment.
The Senate bill is sponsored by Republican Sen. Phil Boyle of Long Island.
"Nassau and Suffolk have been pushing this proposal for several years," Wing said. "It has and is not part of any casino gaming negotiations or discussions."
In Albany, the closed-door "leaders meetings" between the governor and legislative leaders are secret. Major proposals often aren't announced until a deal is struck and quickly rushed to a vote in the Legislature without public hearings.
The proposal would be contrary to Cuomo's public demands that his gambling commission chose vendors; that operators, not the Legislature, be involved in choosing sites; and that privately run casinos be restricted to upstate.
A video slot machine casino run by Nassau and Suffolk OTBs would maintain the Legislature's hold on patronage jobs in the facility.
Most of the nine existing "racino" centers [Slot Barns], which offer video slot machines but not table games, have grown quickly. Their operators argue they are the best candidates to be turned into the privately run casinos Cuomo proposes for upstate and, five years later, the New York City area.
One of Albany's most powerful lobbyists, former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, lobbies for Nassau and Suffolk counties OTBs and on state casino issues, according to his state lobbying registration. He didn't respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
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