New York Okays Fourth Upstate CasinoRegulators To Begin Accepting Bids |
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New York’s Gaming Commission on Monday said that it will begin accepting applications for a fourth casino license, according to timesunion.com. Last year the state awarded three, but many wanted regulators to approve another to help struggling local economies.
Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged New York gaming officials to solicit bids from casino groups that are interested in building a Las Vegas-style facility in the state’s Southern Tier, a western region bordering Pennsylvania.
Cuomo has called the Southern Tier “economically ailing.”
Some expressed concern that a fourth might eventually over-saturate the gaming market in the Empire State. Pennsylvania already has 12 casinos and more are being built there.
Gaming expansion is also taking place in other states like Maryland and Massachusetts.
New York currently has three poker rooms and one more could be on its way thanks to the additional casinos. New York already has tribal casinos.
Last month, work began on clearing trees for a casino in the Sullivan County town of Thompson, in the Catskills 75 miles northwest of New York City. If all goes as planned, the $1.1 billion casino called Montreign Resort Casino at Adelaar would open in mid-2017.
New York is also considering legalizing online poker, but that will likely be put off until the new commercial casinos are up and running. Regulator have their hands full now.
According to an October report from the New York Times, MGM Resorts has been lobbying in Albany to get online poker approved. An analysis commissioned by MGM estimated that New York residents spend as much as $110 million on offshore online poker sites.
The study also estimated that New York could see $50 million to $80 million in annual taxes by making New York-licensed intrastate online poker sites available.
Neighboring New Jersey has had online poker for more than a year now and many in New York want the same. New York is home to more than 19.6 million people; New Jersey has roughly 8.9 million. Online poker revenues could be much larger in New York. If the neighbors eventually partnered up for online poker it could create a robust web poker industry.
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