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ALBANY – The decks aren't stacked, the state says.
The state Gaming Commission on Tuesday disputed claims that the siting process for at least one Catskills casino is titled toward Orange County, which is closest to New York City and has drawn the most interest from developers.
Two potential bidders for casinos in neighboring Sullivan County recently dropped their proposals, citing the competition from Orange County. Two Sullivan County proposals remain, as well as one in adjacent Ulster County.
In a letter to Senate Racing Committee chairman John Bonacic, who represents the region, Gaming Commission acting director Robert Williams said that the law last year to authorize four casinos in upstate New York is aimed to ensure that high-need areas, particularly Sullivan County, would be given consideration.
'A perceived advantage for Orange County is inconsistent with both the statute authorizing the competition and the request for applications,' Williams wrote.
The Gaming Facility Location Board is expected to receive final applications for four upstate casinos on June 30; there are 18 remaining bidders. The law allows four casinos in three regions of the state: the Catskills, Albany area and Southern Tier.
The winning bids will be announced this fall.
The most interest has been in Orange County, which would draw from the 23 million people who live in the New York metropolitan area.
But the intent of the law, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state officials have said, is to build casinos as destination resorts that would create jobs and boost tourism in economically depressed areas. And Orange County's economy is better than in the Catskills – which was once a prime summer tourist area for New York City residents.
'We had the Concord, we had Kutsher's, we had the Nevele. We just need something to turn that switch again, and it's casinos,' Cuomo said after a statewide referendum passed last November to allow up to seven casinos in New York. 'We've been talking about it for decades, and nothing happened.'
Sullivan County casino developers warned that a casino in Orange County, which has drawn interest from power players such as Caesars and the Malaysia-based Genting Inc., would destroy the struggling Catskills. One proposal by Genting, which runs Resorts World at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, would put a casino in Tuxedo, Orange County, just 41 miles from Manhattan.
The state knows 'that an Orange County casino sticks in a knife in Sullivan County forever,' said Louis Cappelli, a Westchester County developer who has teamed with Connecticut casino Mohegan Sun for a casino at the former Concord Hotel site in Sullivan County.
Mitchell Grossinger Etess, Mohegan Sun's CEO, told Gannett's Albany Bureau that he's confident the siting board will understand the need for casino in Sullivan County. He said a casino in Orange County would leave little room for one in Sullivan County — even if the area ultimately is awarded two gaming licenses.
'We really believe that gaming is intended for the Catskills. It's supposed to be about developing an economy and creating economic drivers and this wasn't just a tax revenue grab,' Etess said. 'We really believe at the end of the day we'll be able to make that case to the gaming board. And you can't do that if you're not in the process.'
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Williams' letter seemed to echo those concerns. He said that Sullivan County has among the worst local economies in the state, with the highest unemployment rate in the region.
Charles Degliomini, executive vice president for Empire Resorts, which is looking to build a casino in Sullivan County also on a portion of the former Concord resort, said his group also plans to go forward with its bid.
'It's beyond dispute that a place like Sullivan County has, in my mind, a higher need for the jobs and the economic development than Orange County does,' he said. 'At the end of the day we trust the process.'
Jspector@gannett.com
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