NY Gaming Commission Chairman Resigns
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The chairman of the panel that regulates horse racing and all gambling entities in New York state has resigned, just over a month before the state Gaming Commission is expected to award licenses to commercial casino operators in several parts of the state.
Gaming Commission chairman Mark D. Gearan cited additional commitments, including his full-time job as president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the Finger Lakes region, for making him unable to continue to devote the hours at the busy regulatory agency.
The resignation is effective immediately. Gearan made the announcement at an Aug. 24 agency board meeting in Saratoga Springs.
Gearan notified the Cuomo administration a couple months ago of his intention to step down. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has control of a majority of selections to the commission, which has authority over the state's racing, casino, Indian gambling, charitable wagering industries. The governor then chooses from one of the board's members for the chair's slot. Even if Cuomo were to select a replacement for Gearan, it would still require approval by the state Senate, which is not due back in Albany until January.
Officials said Gearan's decision will not affect the anticipated pace of the ongoing process to locate four initial commercial casinos in New York. The commission has five remaining members, enough to legally act on the pending casino license applications.
The commission is expected to meet Sept. 10 to give final approval to a set of regulations governing the operations of the new casinos, which were approved by voters in a 2013 statewide referendum. Once the regulations are formally published in a state registry, which is expected on Sept. 30, the Gaming Commission can issue licenses to the casino applicants.
A Gaming Commission siting panel has already tapped three applicants. One is located in the southern Catskills, another in downtown Schenectady and the third, with the most swirl of controversy around it, is in Seneca County located a half hour away from Finger Lakes racetrack and its video lottery terminal casino. The proposed casino in the town of Tyre has raised the concerns of the Finger Lakes Thoroughbred community, as well as other upstate casino operators, including the Oneida Indian Nation that operates two casinos east of the proposed new facility.
Gearan was approved by the state Senate as Gaming Commission chair in March 2014. He is a former director of Peace Corps and served as a senior adviser in the former White House administration of President Bill Clinton. The Gaming Commission board members do not serve full-time and are not paid a state salary.