GENTING is an international Predatory Gambling Organization with no ties to any community beyond sucking them dry. [GENTING is the financial Sugar Daddy of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts.]
GENTING has spent wisely on LOBBYISTS and BUYING POLITICIANS [SEE FLORIDA].....
And no one questions......
The excerpt below was saved from a web site that was hacked the day it appeared [worth reading in its entirety].
When the web site was restored, the article had been removed.
New York State requires relatively little scrutiny in the contract Genting has
with the State of New York to operate slot machines at Aqueduct
Racetrack.
Genting made millions of dollars as the money-men behind two
controversial Indian Casino gaming developments in the Eastern United States. In
both cases, Genting operations were directed by G. Michael Brown, a former New
Jersey Attorney General who was later charged with embezzlement and cocaine use
in the Seneca Tribal Court.
Brown was charged with putting various
mistresses on the casino payroll and using casino funds to pay for luxury
condominiums, imported sports cars and expensive jewelry for them. Brown
famously drove a 4-door sedan owned by the Seneca Tribe through the picture
window of a Niagara Falls resident while driving drunk. Genting was the financier of the Seneca Niagara Casino
Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York. Genting charged the tribe an exorbitant 28
percent interest rate, potentially in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulations
under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Genting also stayed in the deal for almost
15 years when they were legally limited to five. Seneca Tribal Council members
have testified that armed Chinese thugs showed up to collect Genting’s money
when tribal lawyers pointed out that Genting was violating the
law. FROM: Genting Connected to Islamic Extremists?
The mayor of Yonkers says a casino in Orange County would cannibalize a large part of the existing casino gambling market rather than expand it. The losers would be the Catskills, Yonkers and the state.
How much does it cost to buy a constitutional amendment in New York state?
Genting, which is the world's biggest gambling corporation, is pricing it at $450 million. That's how much the company is offering the state to trash the intent of the casino gambling amendment passed by the voters last year and instead approve a plan that will fatten Genting's profits at the expense of the rest of the state's economy.
Genting is just one of three casino operators seeking approval from the state's Casino Siting Board to open in Orange County. But it's over-the-top offer of a $450 million licensing fee, which is $380 million more than the state is requiring, is the best example of what casino operators will do to build a casino where they want it rather than where the state's economy needs it.
Does anyone remember the language of last year's casino amendment and the multimillion-dollar ad campaign to sell it to the voters? If you do, then you recall the language that said it would revitalize upstate with jobs and help schools with profits from the new casinos.
Orange County, with an unemployment rate of less than 6 percent (compared to the state's overall 6.6 percent rate) and in the top third of personal income of the state's 62 counties, is hardly distressed.
But that is exactly why Genting is willing to pay $450 million to convince the state to ignore the intent of last year's constitutional amendment.
Michael Levoff, and Christian Goode, VP of Genting Americas, talk about Sterling Forest Resort, a casino plan in Tuxedo vying for a state license. (video by Albert Conte) Albert Conte/The Journal News
It's much more profitable to open a casino in a wealthy area where people have plenty of money to spend rather than in an upstate county that is economically stressed. It's much more profitable to tap into the New York City day-tripper market rather than have to count on overnight visitors.
Yet Genting's gain would be everyone else's loss. The City of Yonkers receives $20 million a year for schools from the existing Empire City casino and racetrack. Schools statewide get about $116 million a year from Empire City.
That will change for the worse if a casino opens in nearby Orange County. Empire City already experienced a 10 percent drop in revenue when Genting opened its giant casino at Aqueduct Racetrack a few years ago. If another casino opens in Orange County, just 35 miles from Yonkers, there will be another, probably larger, drop in revenues and aid for schools.
The chance to revive the Catskills, which was a main reason to expand gambling, will also disappear.
In fact, several potential casino operators for the Catskills have said they will withdraw their plans if a casino opens next door in Orange.
The bottom line is that a casino in Orange will cannibalize a large part of the existing casino gambling market rather than expand it. The losers will be the Catskills and Yonkers as well as the state of New York, which will accept a $450 million one-shot fee in return for giving up long-term economic growth.
There will be one winner if Genting gets an Orange County license — Genting. The world's biggest gambling company would now own the two largest casinos within driving distance of New York City, and would have the only one with the highly profitable table games.
How much does it cost to buy a constitutional amendment? Let's hope the state of New York isn't selling one.
The writer is mayor of the City of Yonkers.
THE ISSUE
In November, New Yorkers passed Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment that allows full-scale casino gaming.
Now, the state Gaming Facility Location Board is considering 16 proposals throughout the state, with plans to issue up to four licenses within three regions of the state. The largest proposal is Genting America's $1.5 billion Sterling Forest Resort in Tuxedo, Orange County. Genting also has proposed a casino plan for Montgomery.
Gambling interests have donated more than $3.4 million to Florida lawmakers, mostly Republicans, since 2012.
Much of this money has come from gaming companies who would like to see full-blown casinos permitted in the state, specifically destination resort casinos in South Florida. Genting, Las Vegas Sands, and several other companies have spent millions on campaign contributions and lobbyists with this goal in mind. Since last year, Genting companies have donated more than $1.1 million to Florida politicians, according to state filings. Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands is the world’s largest casino operator, donated $250,000 to Rick Scott’s campaign in 2012 — that year’s biggest gift.
Despite this largesse, gambling interests have little to show for their investment in the political process.
The Legislature in 2012 rejected a Genting-backed proposal that would have allowed the Kuala Lumpur-based company to build a $3.8 billion casino resort. During the last two legislative sessions, efforts to expand gambling have not got out the gate.
Supposedly it has been the conservative Republicans who have been the obstacle to expanded gaming. However, a new report from the Associated Press suggests it’s not just GOP lawmakers in the way of Genting, Sands, et al. blocking gambling expansion, it’s Governor Rick Scott as well.
Scott’s staff nearly reached a multi-billion dollar deal with the Seminole Indian tribe that would have allowed it to add roulette and craps at its South Florida casinos.
The deal, which was scuttled last spring amid resistance from state legislators, also would have opened the door for the Seminoles to build a casino in the Fort Pierce area and would likely have blocked construction of any Las Vegas-style casinos in Miami for the next seven years.
The documents released by the Scott administration four months after the AP first requested them show that the incumbent governor is open to shifting his stance on gambling. Scott previously has been viewed as quiet supporter of opening major casinos in South Florida.
Lobbyists for these interests say that the AP report is “old news” and that if this deal had been presented to the Legislature, it would have either been amended to allow for destination resorts in South Florida or scuttled altogether.
That assessment may be true. Or it could be revisionist history. Or, as in the case of allowing the Seminoles to build a casino in Fort Pierce, it could be a surprise to most everyone (the powerful Rooney family, which owns the Palm Beach Kennel Club, must have looovvveeeddd the idea of new competition just an hour away).
But what this now-dead deal really looks like is an another attempt by Republican leadership to string along Genting, Sands, and other gambling interests in order to raise money from them during a crucial election cycle. Not that any of these interests would have not contributed to Republican legislative candidates, but I wonder if one of them — knowing then what is known today — would have hedged their bets and broken away from Scott or even for Charlie Crist? Probably not.
What the AP story also makes clear is that how to regulate gaming in Florida will be one of the dominant issues during the 2015 legislative session. Or for however long Republican leaders can string along the well-healed gaming interests.
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