Bidding to Resume for Commercial Casino in NY

The southern tier region of New York, located in the greater Binghamton area, will be getting a new commercial casino after being snubbed last month by a state casino selection panel.

The state Gaming Commission said Jan. 9 it will resume the bidding process to issue the fourth and final immediately available casino license somewhere in the economically battered region of the state. The agency's move comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo came under intense criticism in the area following his administration's decision on Dec. 17 that the region would not be permitted to frack for natural gas, which was seen as a job-creating industry, and would also not be getting one of the new commercial casino awards.

A panel of the Gaming Commission last month awarded three of the four immediately available casino awards to proposals for Sullivan County in the Catskills, downtown Schenectady in the Capital region and Tyre in Seneca County, a plan that is expected to hit current gambling revenues at nearby tracks and casinos, including Finger Lakes racetrack.

Cuomo, whose public statements in the past had led southern tier officials to believe their region would be getting a casino, then requested that the Gaming Commission re-consider and take a new look at the southern tier.

Voters statewide in 2013 approved a change to the constitution allowing up to seven new commercial casinos, which, unlike racetrack VLT casinos, will be permitted to have real slot machines and table games, such as poker. The state, in a separate law, decided to keep the initial casino expansion to a maximum of four facilities to be located in three large geographic areas. Still to come down the road is a likely casino in New York City, though that fight scheduled for about seven years from now is likely to produce not just a slew of interested bidders but intense opposition from upstate tracks and casinos.

Gaming Facility Location Board chairman Kevin Law said in a statement Jan. 9 that it would not have been appropriate for the board to have selected one of the two southern tier casino proposals submitted to his panel. One was located near Binghamton in Broome County and the other was at Tioga Downs racetrack in Tioga County, a facility owned by Jeff Gural, a Manhattan developer and owner of Meadowlands racetrack.

Nevertheless, he said, the panel is now open to considering casino applications in a new RFP process. But he said efforts by some developers to re-open the Catskills/Hudson Valley and the Capital region for the fourth and final license will not be permitted.

New York Gaming Commission chairman Mark Gearan said the intent of the gaming statute was to benefit "economically distressed upstate areas" with high unemployment. "Clearly, the southern tier meets this criterion,'' he said.

Officials cautioned that the process for a new casino in the southern tier does not amount to "re-opening" the former Request for Application bidding program that concluded last month. Instead, a new RFA, with some of the terms possibly changing from the previous casino bidding application, will be issued for just one license in one geographic area. 

Whether state law needs to be amended to specifically state what counties define the southern tier is uncertain, as is when the process might conclude. Presently, state law for the purposes of the casino siting defines the southern tier as going into the northern Finger Lakes region—an area that is about a two hour drive from places like Binghamton, which is located along the Pennsylvania border.

Also uncertain is if any of the nation's major casino players will take a run at a gambling facility in that region, given its relatively small population and economic problems. One reason some might consider a bid is if it could somehow enhance their position with state officials when in the years ahead the state could move to place a gambling facility in the lucrative New York City market.

The siting panel will meet January 13 in Manhattan, at which point some clarity about the future process is expected to be made public.&