NEW YORK CITY-It looks like a one-horse race for the contract todevelop a video lottery casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens,with the New York Lottery saying late Tuesday afternoon that it haddisqualified two of the three bids submitted on June 29. Thedisqualification of bids submitted by Penn National Gaming and aconsortium of SL Green Realty Corp., Hard Rock International andClairvest Group—both on grounds that the bidders attempted tonegotiate for more favorable terms than those allowed by theRFP—narrows the field to the US-based arm of Malaysian gamingcompany Genting.

If Genting’s proposal is not approved, the contract to develop a328,000-square-foot video lottery terminal facility at Aqueductwill be bid out for the sixth time in three years. Should thatoccur, however, neither SL Green nor Penn National would beeligible for reconsideration, the lottery says.

Both the SL Green-led consortium and Penn National submittedwhat an SL Green spokesman calls “a suggested list of amendments”along with their proposals. In the case of the SL Green group,these included the right to terminate the memorandum ofunderstanding if all conditions were not met by Dec. 31 of thisyear, compensation for any VLT facility granted “more favorable taxtreatment” within 50 miles of Aqueduct and the right to sublease aportion of the facility.