ALBANY-The New York Lottery on Tuesday recommended Genting New York, the US arm of Malaysian gaming giant Genting, to develop and operate a racino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. In its letter to Gov. David Paterson, the lottery’s evaluation committee calls Genting’s bid “impressive on many levels.”
The lottery’s endorsement of Genting comes four weeks after it disqualified the two other entries in the latest round of bids to develop a video lottery casino at Aqueduct. Bids from Penn National Gaming and a consortium of SL Green Realty Corp., Hard Rock International and Clairvest Group were disqualified on grounds that the bidders attempted to negotiate for more favorable terms than those allowed by the RFP. Last week, State Supreme Court Judge Barry Kramer judge threw out a lawsuit from Aqueduct Entertainment Co., which had been awarded the racino contract this past February but then lost it amid questions about the selection process.
“Genting’s proposal was far superior, in concept, scope, detail and execution, to any we have seen in previous rounds of evaluation,” the lottery committee says in its letter to Paterson. “It is well known that other bidders, and potential bidders, found the state’s requirements too demanding to accept. They made the fatal assumption that the process was still open to maneuvering and negotiation.”
GlobeSt.com’s calls to a Genting spokesman and to the governor’s office were not returned by deadline.
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