According to a November 2020 report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, “Supporters of casinos argued they would provide new revenues to the state and a significant boost to upstate regions that have struggled economically. The latter reasoning won out - with mixed results. On the other hand, many backers of the referendum intended for the casinos to go instead to economically depressed areas of the state such as the Catskills, the Schenectady area, or the state’s Southern Tier. Foreign tourism dollars, as well as dollars from North Jersey - whose residents would be closer to either casino than any in Atlantic City or eastern Pennsylvania - would be a financial windfall for the state. On the one hand, they clearly presented the best opportunity to maximize “economic activity,” which was supposed to be the main criteria for selection by the state gaming commission. Those casino proposals presented a dilemma for state officials.
Caesars countered with a nearby $880 million casino plan near the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, a hugely popular destination for Asian tourists staying in Manhattan. That led Malaysian gaming giant Genting to propose a $1.5 billion casino fewer than 50 miles northwest of New York City, at the edge of Sterling Forest State Park near the New Jersey border. Somewhat curiously, another suburban area of the Big Apple - Orange County - was excluded from the ban. The moratorium on casino licenses was not only for New York City, but also its suburbs of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties, as well as Long Island.
So what once seemed like a faraway option now can come true by the end of next year. That happened in December 2015, when the Rivers, del Lago, and Catskills casinos received licenses. gambling expansion, the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act of 2013 seems like ancient history.īut the act, which became law after passage of a statewide referendum that year, did more than just pave the way for the opening of four upstate commercial casinos in the state in 2016-18. Also tucked into the act - beyond the fact that sports betting would be permitted at those casinos if and when a comprehensive federal ban on such wagering was ever removed - was the option for up to three casinos in the New York City region.īut, mindful of the need for the upstate casinos to get a “head start” before the latter casinos opened their doors, no license could be issued downstate until seven full years after the issuance of the first upstate license.
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