Cuomo Reaches Deal on Upstate Casinos

ALBANY-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders on Wednesday reached an agreement on the Cuomo administration's proposal to build destination gaming resorts upstate. If approved by voters in a statewide referendum this fall, the plan would give seven-year exclusivity to four upstate casinos yet to be built and to the two existing racinos in the New York City metro area.

Cuomo's Upstate NY Gaming Economic Development Act, which will come up for a vote by the New York State Legislature later this week before going on the statewide ballot in November, would authorize four upstate casinos across three regions: the Hudson Valley–Catskill area, the Capital District-Saratoga area, and the Eastern Southern Tier. One of these regions may have two casinos as determined by the state siting board.

That board in turn would be appointed by the State Gaming Commission, and would consist of people with expertise in finance and development. Among other things, the board would determine the required minimum amount of capital expenditures and license fee required of a gaming resort applicant in each region and make the selections. It would evaluate development applications based on specific criteria: 70% percent of the decision on siting a casino will be based on economic activity and business development factors; 20% on local impact and siting factors; and 10% on workforce factors.

Slot machines would be taxed at a rate between 37% and 45%, while table games would be taxed at 10%. Ten percent of the tax revenues from each casino would be split between the host municipality and host county, another 10% would go to counties across the region and the remaining 80% would be distributed statewide.

Although the legislation does not allow for development of casinos downstate beyond the racinos currently in place at Yonkers Raceway and at Aqueduct in Queens, it would authorize Nassau and Suffolk Off-Track Betting to establish one video lottery gaming facility within each of Nassau and Suffolk counties. A maximum of 1,000 machines would be allowed at each site. 

Lawmakers and private industry alike spoke positively of the agreement between Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Coalition co-leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein. “We need to provide upstate and central New York communities with every opportunity to stimulate their local economies and build a long-term growth strategy,” Klein says in a statement. “If the people of New York agree that this is a fair and smart way of doing so, these regions will be provided with one of the most promising opportunities in years.”

A developer who hopes to be part of the upstate casino scene is Michael Treanor, whose Nevele Investors LLC envisions building a resort and casino at the site of the now shuttered Nevele in the Catskills. "We are very optimistic that passage of the legislation would move us closer to providing the economic boost sorely needed in the Hudson Valley/Catskill Region,” Treanor says in a statement. 

“Redevelopment of the Nevele as a world-class casino and resort will create real economic activity, and we will continue our efforts to make it happen,” he continues. “Gov. Cuomo, the Legislature and the area's residents who have been waging this fight for decades deserve a great deal of credit for bringing us to this point.”