Wide array of interests weigh in on development of downstate casinos

Elected officials, business leaders and gambling interests across the country recently shared their thoughts with the state Gaming Commission about the development of three casinos in the New York City area.

On Wednesday, state regulators posted the 30 submissions they received in response to a request for information issued this fall, which sought feedback from parties interested in using the unawarded three casino licenses and from stakeholders that could be impacted by the development of new casinos. Under existing law, the state can’t award the remaining licenses until 2023, but legislators and gambling interests have been beating the drum to accelerate that timeline.

A full list of the respondents is available below. Some of the submissions appear in their entirety, while every page is redacted in others.

New York City Council member Adrienne Adams, who is in the running to be the next council speaker, wrote a letter on behalf of Resorts World Casino getting a license to operate live-table games. “Resorts World has been an outstanding partner in our community and has contributed to the economic and social fabric of our borough,” she wrote about the Queens facility.

Empire City Casino in Yonkers received multiple submissions encouraging the state to give them a license to operate live-table games, including from the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, the Business Council of Westchester, and the United Way of Westchester and Putnam.

Rush Street Gaming, which operates Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, makes the case that the New York City-area can easily support three new casinos and “enthusiastically” supports awarded all the remaining licenses.

“We humbly ask the commission to give Rust Street Gaming an opportunity to duplicate downstate what we have already accomplished in the Capital Region of New York and across North America,” they wrote in their submission. “We have developed six successful casinos from the ground up, we just broke ground on the seventh and we would love for the eighth to be in downstate New York.”

In recent years, Rush Street has been repeatedly asking for reductions in the tax bills they owe at their Schenectady property. In November, the company was chosen to operate an online sports wagering platform.

A coalition of upstate performing arts venues urged the state, in its response, to “require consideration of local cultural impacts as part of the licensing process.”

RFI Submission Matrix by Capitol Pressroom on Scribd