New York State: Group Cries Foul on NY's Fantasy Sports Law

Group Cries Foul on NY's Fantasy Sports Law

By JOSH RUSSELL 

   ALBANY, N.Y. (CN) - A new lawsuit filed in Albany Supreme Court challenged the constitutionality of the New York legislature's legalization of "Interactive Fantasy Sports" gambling.
     The lawsuit coordinated by Stop Predatory Gambling, an anti-gambling group, argued that New York State Constitution §9.1 prohibits gambling and pool-selling, except for specifically granted exemptions, including wagering on horse races, charitable contests, a limited number of commercial casinos and the state-operated lottery.
     The lawsuit seeks a judgment declaring Chapter 237 of 2016 New York State law unconstitutional and injunction prohibiting the implementation of the legalization of "Interactive Fantasy Sports" gambling.
     FanDuel and DraftKings, major daily fantasy sports websites, suspended their operations on March 21, 2016, amidst lawsuits filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in New York Supreme Court calling the online contests gambling and also alleging consumer fraud and deceptive advertising.
     Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is named as a defendant in the latest lawsuit, signed legislation on August 3, 2016, legalizing daily fantasy sports in New York.
     At the time of the signing Cuomo said, "This new legislation strikes the right balance that allows this activity to continue with oversight from state regulators, new consumer protections, and more funding for education." 
     The lawsuit points out that the August legislation legalized online sports gambling just in time for the Sept. 16 kickoff of the National Football League's 2016 season.
     New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman blasted DraftKings and daily fantasy sports gambling in a November 2015 cease-and-desist letter, in which he said "Like most gambling operations, DraftKings' own numbers reveal a far different reality."
     Schneiderman elaborated in his cease-and-desist order, "In practice, DFS [daily fantasy sports] is far closer to poker in this respect: a small number of professional gamblers profit at the expense of casual players. To date, our investigation has shown that the top one percent of DraftKings' winners receive the vast majority of the winnings."
     A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman commented that daily fantasy sports "are creating the same public health and economic concerns as other forms of gambling, including addiction. Finally, DraftKings' advertisements seriously mislead New York citizens about their prospects of winning"
     The lawsuit noted that fantasy sports are included in Gamblers Anonymous' list of activities it defines as gambling.
     New York supporters of Stop Predatory Gambling helped bring the lawsuit.
     "We believe in improving the lives of the people of New York," said Les Bernal, Stop Predatory Gambling's National Director. "Daily fantasy sports gambling is a huge rip-off for all citizens, regardless whether you gamble or not."
     The New York State Gaming Commission offered no comment, referring inquiries to the New York State Attorney General's Office, which is handling the litigation.
     The plaintiffs are represented by Cornelius Murray at O'Connell & Aronowitz in Albany, New York.
     The complaints were not made available to the public by the court as of press time. Courthouse News obtained the complaints on the Stop Predatory Gambling site as part of this blog post: http://stoppredatorygambling.org/blog/spg-helps-to-file-constitutional-challenge-of-nys-internet-gambling-law/. 

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/10/06/group-cries-foul-on-nys-fantasy-sports-law.htm

Pete Iorizzo: Fantasy games pave way for sports betting

By Pete Iorizzo

Updated 7:34 pm, Saturday, August 6, 2016

If daily fantasy sports isn't gambling, then I'm going to be the starting quarterback for the New York Jets this season.

The bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday makes it legal to win or lose money — or ... you know ... gamble — based on the performance of your imaginary team of real players.

Lawmakers essentially ran an end-around play to elude another state law that makes games of "chance" illegal, instead defining daily fantasy sports as games of "skill."

Please. If you've had your fantasy football season waylaid by a balky hamstring, then you know that even the geekiest stat-heads can't succeed without some good fortune.

To be clear, though, this isn't to argue that daily fantasy sports should be illegal.

Sure, I can think of better things to do with your paycheck than letting it ride on the Arizona Cardinals' kicker and Cleveland Browns' running back. But who am I — and who is the state of New York — to tell you how to spend your money? Some of us collect stamps, some of us have FanDuel accounts. To each his own.

But defining lottery games, daily fantasy sports and horse racing as legal forms of entertainment while prohibiting bets on the Cowboys-Steelers game as a threat to civil society is so blatantly hypocritical that it's not sustainable.

It won't happen overnight, but the real takeaway from the state's thumbs-up to daily fantasy sports should be that we've taken a step closer to fully legalized sports wagering.

The major hurdle remains a 1992 federal law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which bans most forms of sports wagering in all but four states.

That law already has been challenged by New Jersey, where in 2012 Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill legalizing sports betting in the state. That's not to say there is now fully legalized sports betting in New Jersey. The state has lost suits from the four major sports leagues that have argued New Jersey is in violation of the 1992 federal law, though the appeals process continues.

But this is a case in which the court of public opinion could factor significantly. With public pressure and lobbying from the major sports leagues, Congress could change the 1992 law, an outcome that isn't all that far-fetched, several legal experts tell me.

Expanding the right to bet on sports seems to be one of the few issues on which most Americans agree. An estimated 57.4 million people play daily fantasy sports in the United States and Canada, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. And each year an estimated $400 billion is wagered illegally.

Guess what: People like to bet on sports.

And though the major sports leagues vehemently have resisted New Jersey's push to have the federal law struck down, their opposition is much more nuanced than it might appear.

Many professional sports teams now are invested in daily fantasy companies, a sign they're not queasy about getting cozy with wagering. NBA commissioner Adam Silver even wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in 2014 calling for more widespread legalization. The NHL is putting a team in Las Vegas, and the NFL is talking about doing the same.

Their real opposition to New Jersey's push is that it would legalize sports betting without establishing a federal framework for regulation. Probably, the leagues have their self-interests in mind, too. If we're going to have fully legalized sports gambling, the owners will want a cut.

"It seems there is a lot of hypocrisy in the sports leagues' sustained opposition," says Marc Edelman, a professor of law at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. He'll appear Wednesday at the Saratoga Institute on Equine, Racing and Gaming Law Conference's panel discussion on sports wagering.

"They seem opposed to traditional sports gambling when they're not in a position to profit directly from the activity, but they're more willing to accept it if they are. ... It seems reasonably likely to believe that at least the four traditional sports leagues would support the repeal of PASPA if sports gambling would lead to direct profit to their owners."

How might that happen? Owners could become shareholders in sports wagering organizations, just as they have made chunky investments in daily fantasy companies.

In New York, repealing PASPA would make it possible for the new casino being built in Schenectady to include a sports book. In fact, it seems inevitable that someday you'll be able to drive down Erie Boulevard to bet the Giants and the over.

The effort to continue banning sports betting seems awfully futile when you consider that so many of us already do.

http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-sports/article/Pete-Iorizzo-Fantasy-games-pave-way-for-sports-9127023.php

Nassau County’s Bad Bet on Gambling

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

JAN. 1, 2016

The community of Elmont, on Long Island, may soon be getting a neighborhood amenity that’s high-class and exciting, if you think a big carpeted box filled with a thousand video gambling machines is high-class and exciting.

On Tuesday the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation announced that it would seek New York State’s permission to open a 100,000-square-foot gambling emporium at Belmont Park, the racetrack on the edge of Queens that is home to the Belmont Stakes.

We already knew that casino-style gambling was coming to Long Island; that’s because of a deal struck in 2013 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Dean Skelos, then the powerful Senate Republican leader from Nassau County, when Mr. Cuomo was seeking to legalize full-fledged casino gambling upstate.

The agreement allowed one gambling hall in Nassau County and one in neighboring Suffolk County, each with up to 1,000 video-lottery terminals, or V.L.T.’s, which are similar to slot machines and are wired into the state lottery system. They were going to be a shot in the arm for county officials who were forever clawing for revenue and didn’t care how they got it.

From the experience of other places, we know that casinos and gambling are instruments of blight — blighted neighborhoods, the blighted lives of problem gamblers and the blighted politics of elected officials who can’t, or won’t, find a better path to economic development.

In New York, the plan has long been to attach a dubious financial engine (gambling) to a broken-down heap of an industry (horse racing) and fuel it with people’s thinly stretched paychecks and Social Security benefits. Giving up on better ways of reviving the upstate economy, Mr. Cuomo doubled down on gambling: He engineered the 2013 referendum that rewrote the State Constitution to open the door to seven Las Vegas-style casinos, and then cut the deal for the two video gambling parlors on Long Island.

Yet many people in Nassau don’t want slot machines anywhere near their homes. Because of local resistance, the Nassau parlor was never considered for the retail and entertainment heart of the county, called the Hub. Why is that, if gambling is such an economic boon? It was blocked from an OTB “race palace” in Plainview and from the site of a shuttered department store in Westbury. In addition, Suffolk’s plan to bring its machines to a shuttered movie multiplex in Brookhaven is mired in a lawsuit.

The pro-video-gambling forces in Nassau are counting on the State Legislature and local communities to accept the development at Belmont, and “counting” is quite literal in the case of the county executive, Edward Mangano. He has already put $20 million of gambling revenue in his 2016 budget. That’s based on estimates that the parlor will net at least $150 million a year.

That’s a lot of losing gamblers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/01/opinion/nassau-countys-bad-bet-on-gambling.html?_r=0

Casino Shills hawk MYTHS to promote PREDATORY GAMBLING

It's always disappointing when elected officials continue to support and promote the Casino MYTHS that never appeared elsewhere, ignoring the FACTS.

Casinos pitched near New York City worry Catskills

MICHAEL HIL, Associated Press

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press

Updated 9:32 am, Saturday, May 17, 2014

 

WOODBURY, N.Y. (AP) — Ailing areas of the Catskills finally close to landing a casino after decades of trying could be looking at sharing the jackpot with casinos closer to New York City.

 

Five of the 22 development groups that paid a $1 million application fee said they were looking at Orange County, within the edge of the city's commuter belt. Big-name operators such as Caesars Entertainment and Genting Group believe a casino on the outskirts of the nation's largest metropolitan region could win big.

 

But it also would siphon business from any companion casino built in the heart of the Catskills — a less prosperous area explicitly mentioned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others as an intended beneficiary of New York's gambling expansion.

 

With final bids due June 30, the state board choosing casino sites could be weighing applicants in prime locations against those offering help in needier areas like the Catskills' Sullivan County.

 

"When you look at the kind of bright, shining city Orange County is versus what Sullivan County is, clearly the need is in Sullivan County," said Charles Degliomini of Empire Resorts Inc., which wants to build a $750 million resort about 90 miles northwest of New York City with Kansas City, Mo.-based EPR Properties.

 

The gambling expansion amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in November was promoted as an economic boost for the three upstate regions that will get the first four casinos:

 

Catskills/Hudson Valley, the Capital and Southern Tier/Finger Lakes. The governor said last year that casinos would create good-paying jobs "where we need it most."

 

A top location from the get-go was the Catskills, where locals had been trying to land casinos since tourism from the old Borscht Belt era dried up. Cuomo flew to the heart of the old region the day after the referendum vote to tell an enthusiastic crowd the expansion would "fundamentally change the trajectory of the Catskills."

 

"If we don't have something around here for people to get their lives in order, we're going to be in trouble, without a doubt," said William J. Rieber Jr., supervisor for the Sullivan County town of Thompson.

 

Now, it's possible the Orange County proposals unveiled last month could change the trajectory of the casino siting process. While five groups expressed interest in Orange County, that number could change if bidders team up or pull out. Full refunds of the $1 million fee are available through Monday.

 

Casinos in Orange County communities like Tuxedo, where Genting wants to build, or Caesars' pick in Woodbury would be roughly an hour from Manhattan — a potentially huge advantage in a crowded market. Caesars and developer David Flaum want to build a casino by a commuter rail station and Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, a massive shopping center that draws 13 million visitors annually.

 

"We think there are not many locations in the United States that are better than this location," said Jan Jones Blackhurst, a Caesars vice president.

 

While Orange County is usually considered upstate, it has a downstate flavor. The county's suburbanized southern end is home to communities inhabited by city police and firefighters who endure longer commutes for more affordable housing.

 

The county's population increased by about 10 percent since 2000, even as other upstate areas flat-lined. The county's unemployment rate hovers below the rates for the state and Sullivan County.

 

Members of the state's Gaming Facility Location Board, which will make selections this fall, must base 70 percent of their decision on "economic activity and business development factors," such as maximizing revenue and jobs.

 

Blackhurst said the Caesars location will create more jobs because the revenue potential is so much greater. Empire Resorts' Degliomini argues that dollars spent in Sullivan County communities would have a larger impact than dollars spent in Orange County communities. While the law allows two casinos to go in the region, there is concern that potential Sullivan County investors would be leery if a casino is approved closer to the city.

 

"The Catskills have been thought to be the target for this the whole time," said John Sabini, former chairman of New York's Racing and Wagering Board. "And If something opens up in Woodbury, it really diminishes any value to any Catskill license."

 

 

 

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Casinos-pitched-near-New-York-City-worry-Catskills-5485702.php

Cuomo now hates Genting

Remember, Genting is the financial backer of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Cuomo now hates Genting

From Capital New York:

Two years ago, Andrew Cuomo made the Malaysian gambling conglomerate’s agenda his own, putting his full rhetorical and political might behind its ambitious plans for a $4 billion convention-center complex there—a complex the company also hoped would come complete with a full-scale casino. Now, the political darling has become an outcast, with its ambitions of being in on the ground floor of New York’s coming casino boom in doubt.

“Andrew hates them with a passion,” said one knowledgeable source, referring to Genting. “I think that he felt that they didn’t negotiate in good faith.”

The two parties are “on the outs,” said another.

Cuomo declined to comment for this story.

Genting spokesman Stefan Friedman, without getting into specifics, said, “Genting’s relationship with the state is strong, and the people of New York are the beneficiaries of that relationship.”

But you don’t have to be a Cuomo insider to read the tea leaves.

In early January, Cuomo made the convention center idea the centerpiece of his State of the State economic development strategy, relying on what some sources described as an unbinding memorandum of understanding between the state and the gambling company. In that same speech, he said he would seek to legalize casino gambling in New York State.

Given the still-preliminary nature of the negotiations with Cuomo, executives at Genting were taken aback to find their proposal center-stage at the State of the State. But by publicly committing himself to a still half-baked idea, Cuomo had given them leverage to negotiate, and they used it.

In the ensuing weeks, details about the Genting-Cuomo negotiations leaked out, and despite Cuomo’s protestations, those negotiations clearly linked the full-scale casino to the convention center. Not only did Genting want a lower tax rate for its gambling operations, but it also wanted regional exclusivity for its full-scale casino. Goode, the Genting lobbyist, even went on the record arguing: “The state has provided exclusivity to other projects. It’s a logical path. We don’t want to cannibalize our own market.’’

And then, somehow, everything fell apart.

 

 

 

http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2014/05/cuomo-now-hates-genting.html

Hikind says ‘don’t put casinos near kids!’

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (right) said building a casino in the Catskills is not a safe bet. Eagle file photo

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (right) said building a casino in the Catskills is not a safe bet. Eagle file photo

Wants gambling facilities built away from Catskills

By Paula Katinas

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The state’s voters approved the expansion of casino gambling in New York in November and with the state’s Gaming Commission mulling where to build the new gambling facilities, one Brooklyn lawmaker has been outspoken as to where he doesn’t want to see the slot machines, blackjack tables and roulette wheels.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park-Midwood) is urging the New York State Gaming Commission to steer clear of the Catskills.

Hikind said the commission should take into consideration that thousands of families and children spend summers in the Catskills at long-established camps, bungalows and summer homes.

The Gaming Commission will decide who gets licenses to open gambling casinos. The commission regulates all aspects of gaming and gambling activity in the state, including horse racing, pari-mutuel wagering, the state lottery (including video lottery terminals) and charitable gaming.

“Before licenses are awarded, I am calling on the Gaming Commission to take certain factors into account,” Hikind said. “Primary among those considerations should be keeping casinos away from children.”

The proposal to expand the state’s gambling footprint was supported by 57 percent of the state’s voters in the most recent election.

Governor Andrew Cuomo supported the idea of building more casinos, The New York Times reported.

New York State currently has five casinos operated by Indian reservations, all of them located on upstate, as well as nine slot machine parlors located inside racetracks.

The State Legislature voted to require that, for now, only four new casinos be allowed. All of those casinos are to be built upstate: in the Albany area; the Catskills-Hudson Valley region; and part of the Southern Tier, a region that runs along the New York-Pennsylvania border.

Supporters said the casinos will create much-needed jobs, attract tourism and boost the economy in some of the state’s hardest hit regions.



Hikind, who voted against the proposal to build more casinos, acknowledged that casinos will become a reality in upstate New York. He said the state needs to be careful where to put them.

“I have no problem with people gambling if they want to, and let the state earn revenue from these establishments; create jobs and stimulate the economy. But in the name of decency, let’s attempt to keep casinos away from children,” he said.

Hikind said his biggest concern is minimizing exposure to casinos from the thousands of children who attend camp in the Catskills during the summer.

“Adding five or ten miles to someone’s drive to a casino would hardly inconvenience them when, in comparison, putting a casino in the backyard of thousands of teenagers will certainly expose their risk to things that most parents work hard to protect their children from,” Hikind said.

“I am asking that the casinos be placed closest to the city so the vast numbers of their potential customers have the easiest access, anyway. This will keep families who don’t want easy access for their children farther away from gambling. Anyone who wants to drive to the casinos can certainly do so, but teenagers and young adults won’t be walking in from town.”


http://brooklyneagle.com/articles/hikind-says-%E2%80%98don%E2%80%99t-put-casinos-near-kids%E2%80%99-2014-03-25-130000

 

Don’t force casinos on us

Posted on March 7, 2014 | By TU Editorial Board

 

 

 

 

Our opinion:When it comes to siting casinos, communities must be in control of their destiny.

 

In true gambling style, the Saratoga Springs City Council didn’t quite reveal its hand this week when it unanimously declared that it didn’t support the state’s new gambling law for a raft of reasons. Still, it would take a pretty blatant bait-and-switch for any council member to say they’re for a casino after this.

Saratoga Springs’ citizens now deserve certainty that the state will heed the clear sentiment in Tuesday’s resolution — that New York must respect community preference when it comes to hosting a casino.

Right now, Saratoga Springs’ preference is no. The city council couldn’t quite bring itself to say that magic word Tuesday, but a majority of citizens said it in November when they voted by a wide margin against the constitutional amendment allowing casino gambling.

What the council did say was still pretty strong: that it has virtually no confidence in the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act of 2013, which sets out the casino siting process. The council resolution tore the act apart, pointing out that it allows the state to ignore a community’s desires, plans and zoning laws in siting a casino. The unambiguous bipartisan message from the council: That’s unacceptable.

The state says community preference will figure in the siting decision, but to what degree is unclear.

The Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo need to do better than leave Saratoga Springs — and any other community that doesn’t want a casino — dangling on this question for months. They should put in place a law that fully respects local sentiment in the process of siting casinos.

That wouldn’t open the process to politics, as the governor has suggested. It would simply affirm that the state is not going to force gambling on any community that doesn’t want it. If anything is blocking that fair and sensible idea, it’s Mr. Cuomo’s own political pride in refusing to acknowledge that he and lawmakers didn’t get this law right the first time.

Nor does it help that the city’s voice in the state Senate, Kathy Marchione, continues to sit on the fence. As both the area’s senator and a member of the Senate Racing and Wagering Committee, she should be insisting that the state not be able to run roughshod over her constituents or anyone else’s, not hedging her bets.

At least the new Gaming Commission chairman, Mark Gearan, the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, says he will respect the casino law’s goal to help distressed upstate communities. It would take quite a bit of economic wizardry to fit Saratoga Springs into that definition, especially next to other communities.

That’s exactly what citizens and city leaders are trying to protect. They don’t want a casino resort siphoning business and vitality away from the thriving restaurants, stores and hotels in and around downtown Saratoga Springs.

This needs to be all about the city’s destiny, not some destination resort.


 http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/dont-force-casinos-on-us/28074/

 

Casino Bid Newcomers Weigh Site Closer to New York City

By CHARLES V. BAGLIFEB. 25, 2014

 

The battle to build a potentially lucrative $500 million casino resort amid the wooded hills and craggy economy of the Catskills has been a gentlemanly affair, with a half-dozen rivals gently competing for one, if not two state licenses for the region.

 

But the comity is cracking under the threat of interlopers.

 

In a surprising move, three newcomers to the competition are now considering building casinos on the Catskills’ southern flank, at a location that is far closer to what all the operators believe would be their lifeblood: densely packed New York City, with its 8.3 million residents and 52 million tourists a year.

 

Indeed, one newcomer, a partnership of Cordish Companies, Hard Rock and Simon Property Group, is looking at a site near Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, a sprawling mall in Orange County. It attracts over 11 million visitors a year, making it one of the state’s biggest tourist attractions. A casino there would be a mere 49 miles from Times Square, compared with the 90-mile trek to possible casino sites in Sullivan and Ulster Counties.

 

Developers and gambling companies with proposals for casino-resorts in Ellenville, Liberty and Monticello are attacking the prospect of a casino in Orange County, saying it would severely hurt their ability to finance construction of major resorts in less economically prosperous areas.

 

“It would dramatically affect, if not eliminate, the Nevele project,” said Michael R. Treanor, who has proposed building a $500 million casino resort at the former Nevele hotel in Ulster County. “Why would anyone feel the need to go further? It would take southern Ulster County and Sullivan County out of contention.”

 

At the same time, the developers said, a casino would undermine Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s stated goal of using gambling to bring economic development and tourism to upstate counties with high unemployment and few job prospects, like Sullivan County.

 

“It would be a devastating blow to everyone who’s been trying to revive Sullivan County for the past 40 years,” said Louis Cappelli, a developer who is seeking to build a $550 million casino resort in Monticello, at the former site of a borscht belt hotel, the Concord. “It would cut us off from the supply of patrons.”

 

Developers, gambling companies and elected officials have sought to lure a commercial or Indian casino to Sullivan County since the 1970s. The area, where 500 hotels and bungalow colonies once served visitors from New York City, had fallen on hard times after vacation habits changed.

 

Next month, the State Gaming Commission is expected to officially begin soliciting proposals for up to four full-scale casinos north of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties. The casinos would be for three regions: the Catskills and the Hudson Valley; the Saratoga region; and a narrow strip in western New York running from Binghamton north to the Canadian border.

 

Mr. Cuomo has promised that the gambling resorts would attract tourists to upstate New York, generating economic activity and jobs “where we need it most.”

 

Asked whether Orange County needed the economic activity, Lee Park, a spokesman for the Gaming Commission, said only that the process of selecting sites for casinos would be competitive.

 

The Catskills area, which is expected to get two of the four licenses, has attracted the greatest attention from developers and gambling companies because of the region’s proximity to New York City. And with the review process about to begin, the competition and tension are mounting.

 

“As it moves forward, there’ll be no shortage of bad blood, sniping and hired guns,” said John D. Sabini, a gambling consultant and former chairman of the State Racing and Wagering Board. “It’ll get ugly because the stakes are so high. People have already spent millions of their own money.”

Rumors have circulated for weeks that developers were scouring Orange County for a casino site. But the issue came to the fore on Friday when Steven M. Neuhaus, the Orange County executive, told The Times Herald-Record that he had met with three different companies, including Cordish, looking at separate sites in the county.

 

Cordish and Hard Rock built the Maryland Live Casino at Simon Property’s Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Md., and are proposing a similar project in New York.

 

Mr. Neuhaus did not dispute that his county was in far better economic condition than Sullivan, where the unemployment rate is almost 8 percent, and that his northern neighbor should get a casino. But, he added, Orange remains a better location.

 

“At the end of the day, the government isn’t doing this to make an Indian tribe happy or anything else,” Mr. Neuhaus said. “It’s about maximizing economic development.”

 

Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming, which operates more than 20 casinos nationally, confirmed on Monday that his company was looking at sites in Orange County, as well as in other regions.

 

But elected officials and gambling executives to the north are irate. “I understand why developers want it,” said Scott B. Samuelson, the Sullivan County executive. “But I think it goes against the legislation and the governor’s intent.”

 

They suggest that Orange County is not really part of the Catskills. Several developers insist that they have the necessary public approvals that would allow them to meet the state’s desire to have the casinos up and running within two years. Orange County projects, they say, would have to wend their way through the review process and contend with opposition from religious groups and environmentalists.

 

“The goal is not to build an economic dam between downstate and upstate, which is basically what a casino in Orange County would do,” said Charles Degliomini, a spokesman for Empire Resorts, which is proposing to build a $600 million complex on 1,700 acres near Monticello. “We are the only resort and casino property that already cleared most of the permit requirements, has secured community support and promises to bring economic development to what is widely recognized as upstate New York.”

 

Correction: February 25, 2014

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of a man who proposed building a casino resort in Ulster County. He is Michael R. Treanor, not Trainor.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/nyregion/newcomers-to-casino-battle-eye-location-closer-to-new-york-city.html?_r=0

 

 

Growing Casinos Opposition!

More Joining Bandwagon Against Casinos

Ali Touhey

A new Indian-run casino would be bad for business in Monroe County- that is the message of the No More Casinos coalition.

A new Indian-run casino would be bad for business in Monroe County- that is the message of the No More Casinos coalition.

Sharon Dupler works at the Finger Lakes Gaming & Race Track in Farmington. She worries about what a new Seneca casino would mean to the area.

"It will not only cost us our business customers, but ultimately our jobs are at stake," she said.

Dupler is part of the "No More Casinos Coalition," a group of business owners and community leaders against any new Indian-run casinos in western New York. The group held a press conference Tuesday expressing their concerns over building a Seneca casino in the community. Former Rochester mayor Bill Johnson is siding with the coalition against that possibility.

"This is not anti-casino. What we are saying is there's enough," he said.

Currently, the Senecas are allowed to operate three casinos in western New York under a gaming compact with the state. The group fears Governor Cuomo could allow the Senecas to expand. Johnson says any new Indian-run casino in our area would only hurt the small business community and economic development, among other concerns.

"The Seneca Nation is an autonomous nation. It's not a part of the United States. So therefore, it doesn't adhere to state, federal, or local laws; and that's the real issue here. That's the big issue," Johnson said.

Both Irondequoit and Henrietta have been floated as possible locations for a new casino in Monroe County. Johnson is urging people to voice their disapproval. He says the Senecas would not be able to go into any community where there is public opposition.

"We have to host community meetings and go into these towns and villages and have an understanding of what the impact of such a development is," he said.

We have reached out to the Seneca Nation and the Governor's office for comment. Neither have responded yet. To learn more about the opposition, click here.

 

http://www.rochesterhomepage.net/story/more-joining-bandwagon-against-casinos/d/story/WR8jJsW2TkSkYPmJnuB_AA

 

 

Saratoga Opposition Growing

Upstate, Opposition to a Casino Is a Surprise

By JESSE McKINLEYJAN. 12, 2014

 

 

Horses at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway racino, which developers want to convert to a larger, full-scale operation. Ángel Franco/The New York Times

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — With its rich history of horse racing and a 19th-century gambling parlor so opulent that it drew comparisons to Monte Carlo, this upstate enclave would seem to be a natural choice to receive one of the state’s new full-scale casinos.

 

Yet what was once thought to be a fait accompli — that the casino designated for the capital region would wind up in Saratoga — is no longer a sure thing, and much of that is because of a coordinated resistance from many residents and business owners.

 

They acknowledge that the city’s fortunes have long been intertwined with gambling. Even now, with its world-class thoroughbred track closed for the season, a smaller harness track attracts visitors the year round, thanks to its so-called racino, filled with slots-like video lottery terminals.

 

But they say that the city does not need or want a full-fledged casino.

 

“Why mess with a good thing?” said Colin Klepetar, a middle school teacher who has helped organize against it. “This is already a world-class town.”

 

Slots-like terminals at the racino. Ángel Franco/The New York Times

The opposition stands in stark contrast to the support in areas like the Catskills and the state’s Southern Tier counties along the northern border of Pennsylvania, where business and political leaders have long pushed for casinos to revitalize stagnant economies and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has banked on gambling as a solution to upstate economic woes. And even in Saratoga, city and county officials have endorsed the idea.

 

Mr. Cuomo pushed for a statewide referendum: The measure, which authorized as many as seven new casinos, was approved in November, with 57 percent of voters in favor. But it did not pass in Saratoga Springs or in Saratoga County.

 

“This community voted no by 57 percent and the county voted no by 54 percent,” said Sara Boivin, an art historian who is a member of Saratogians Against Vegas-Style Expansion, or SAVE, which has been lobbying local politicians and protesting against potential casino developers. “We just want that message to be taken by officials.”

 

The group, which formed soon after the referendum, has canvassed neighborhoods, packed meetings with opponents and gathered more than 1,000 signatures on petitions urging leaders to reject a new casino. Similar opposition has also been seen in several communities in neighboring Massachusetts.

 

Nonetheless, the uprising in Saratoga has caught some local officials off guard.

 

New York already has five Indian-run casinos, all of them upstate, and nine racinos at racetracks, including the successful one here — the Saratoga Casino and Raceway — which developers would like to see converted to a larger, full-scale operation.

 

Developers are finalizing plans in the Catskills, the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier, where competitions for casinos have pitted neighboring towns or counties against one another. Other cities in the capital region recently approved pro-casino resolutions, including Rensselaer, the downtrodden city across the Hudson River from Albany.

 

 

 

The grass-roots anti-casino efforts recently caused casino supporters to begin a public relations push of their own. They say, in part, that if Saratoga does not allow a casino to be built here, it will be built nearby instead, damaging the town and the racing industry that the town supports.

 

“Now that the referendum has passed, the question of whether we are for or against casino-style gambling is moot,” said Joanne Dittes Yepsen, a former county supervisor who took office as Saratoga’s mayor this month. “There is a new question that needs to be answered: Will Saratoga Springs be hurt more if the casino is placed in a nearby municipality or within the city itself?”

Unlike Massachusetts, where a local vote is needed for casino owners to gain approval to build, New York has no provision requiring local voter approval. Instead, the state law has broader language that asks only that developers gain “public support in the host and nearby municipalities,” something that “may be demonstrated through the passage of local laws or public comment.”

 

No such vote is planned in Saratoga, a city of 27,000, but opponents think the Nov. 5 results should speak for themselves.

 

SAVE, the anti-casino group, says it fears that a bigger casino would drive up crime rates, drive down property values and generally ruin the city’s small-town, big-money vibe. That appeal is evident: Saratoga has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state; a thriving downtown, stocked with boutiques and buskers, public art and $25 entrees; and residential areas dotted with colonnaded homes and lawns decorated with statuary. The city’s north side is home to Skidmore College, another beloved local institution. To the east is Yaddo, the secluded artists’ colony, and the city’s western edge is home to an emerging arts scene.

 

The raceway is on the city’s southern flank, not far from the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the summer host of the New York City Ballet. Organizers there and at other arts organizations fear the competition for entertainment dollars from a new casino, which would most likely have hundreds of slot machines, dozens of table games, and entertainment and convention facilities.

A sign opposing a new casino, which opponents say will hurt existing gambling venues. Ángel Franco/The New York Times

But James Featherstonhaugh, an owner of the raceway who is also a prominent Albany lobbyist and president of a trade group representing racino owners, said none of that would change the character of the city.

 

“We don’t want a Las Vegas-style casino in Saratoga either,” Mr. Featherstonhaugh said. “We want a Saratoga-style casino.”

 

Raceway executives made that point at a community forum in December that drew more than 1,000 people, including a Christmas-y mix of supporters (wearing green stickers reading “Save Racing/Save Jobs”) and opponents (wearing red “Casi-NO!” T-shirts).

 

The forum included business owners who pressed the raceway officials on whether the new casino would discount drinks and hotel rooms, stay open 24 hours or otherwise draw business away from their establishments. Officials repeatedly said they wanted to be good neighbors, but also said their plans were still evolving. “There are too many unknowns right now,” said Rita Cox, a spokeswoman for the track.

 

Mark Baker, president of the convention center, said he was concerned about a new casino “taking people’s feet off the streets of downtown Saratoga,” which was slowly rebuilt after hitting the skids in the 1950s and ’60s. “We’ve worked decades to come back to this hallmark moment that the city’s in right now,” he said.

 

The city’s popularity dates to the mid-1800s, when mineral baths drew weary urbanites north in search of peace, quiet and a good soak. A pair of horsemen — John Hunter and William R. Travers — in 1863 sponsored four days of racing on a small oval near downtown, and more gambling soon followed, including the Canfield Casino, which now houses a city museum.

 

Over the decades, a parade of famous and infamous figures made their way to Saratoga to gamble or gambol, including the likes of Lillian Russell and Meyer Lansky. The city began a renaissance in the early 1970s, implementing a series of small improvements — repainted storefronts, newly planted trees — and broader changes that encouraged a vibrant downtown. Now the city hosts some of the world’s richest horse racing fans for nearly two months every summer, a deluge of people and tourist dollars.

 

What will happen next remains to be seen. At her inauguration on Jan. 1 at — appropriately enough — the Canfield Casino, Mayor Yepsen echoed the sentiment that Saratoga should not become Las Vegas. But the process continues: At his State of the State address last week, Governor Cuomo laid out the process of casino selection, with bids due in June and construction likely to begin before the end of the year.

 

At the same time, there are pockets of hard times in Saratoga, and the debate goes on there, too. On a recent morning, two unemployed men drank beer in the remains of a factory near downtown. And while they admitted the casino might mean jobs, one of the men, Kevin Germaine, 55, who said he lived in a nearby park, did not like the idea. “We already got one,” he said.

 

 

A version of this article appears in print on January 13, 2014, on page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Upstate, Opposition to a Casino Is a Surprise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/nyregion/upstate-opposition-to-a-casino-is-a-surprise.html?_r=0