Casino gambling New York state is beginning to see its support erode.
A Siena Research Institute poll released recently, shows that people are split on legalizing non-Indian reservation casinos, with neither side getting 50 percent support. This represents a decline from last month's poll, when 52 percent of New Yorkers were in favor of the idea and 44 percent were not.
“A constitutional amendment to legalize non-Indian casinos in New York divides voters virtually down the middle. However, this is not an issue that divides voters by region, party or ideology. In fact, voters of every region, party and ideology are nearly evenly divided,” Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. “Gender and age are more predictive of voters‟ positions, with men more supportive than women and young voters more supportive than older voters.
This issue has been asked by Siena since January; support then was 53 percent of the voters.
Racino gambling is a big money and job generator in the Empire State.
New York’s nine racetrack casinos raked in about $1.96 billion in economic activity last year, created more than 17,400 jobs and provided $830.5 million to the state education fund, according to a new 16-page study commissioned by the New York Gaming Association. The report also said the racinos provided $179.8 million for the state’s horse racing industry and horse breeders.
Resorts World Casino New York City, which opened in October at Aqueduct racetrack to huge crowds, had earned a total of $139.9 million as of January, according to the latest monthly revenue report. About 44 percent of the earnings, or $61.5 million, has gone to the state education fund.
The Genesee County Legislature voted on February 22nd, 2012 to support Batavia Downs and eight other racinos in their quest for enhanced casino gambling, which would add table games to the video lottery terminals now in use.
If Gov. Cuomo’s new legislation authorizing enhanced gaming is approved, Finger Lakes owners have plans to pour approximately $80 million into new facilities, which include a brand new multi-story hotel and expanded gaming space for live table games and slots.
The addition of live table games to Vernon Downs Casino and Hotel would significantly increase the casino's impact on the economy of Oneida County, with planned investments of nearly $10 million initially generating nearly 100 construction-related jobs, and expanded operations generating nearly $13 million annually in county-wide economic output and more than 154 new, local jobs.
In the works is the addition of a luxury hotel and convention center at Tioga Downs Casino that he said will make the harness racing and electronic gaming center in Nichols, Tioga County, more of a tourist destination.
Live table games -- poker, blackjack, craps, roulette -- with real dealers would make Tioga Downs a full-fledged casino that would attract more players and would mean construction of an even larger hotel, said Gural, chairman of American Racing and Entertainment, operator of Tioga Downs.
The Wawarsing Town Board is squarely behind developing casino gambling in the soon-to-be revived Nevele Hotel.
The town board Thursday night voted to support the state legislation that would allow casino gaming in New York. The local board added that it supports casino gaming in Ulster County and that any such facility should be located in Wawarsing.
The Western Mohegan Tribe and Nation has once again wiggled out from an apparent dead end to their casino dreams.
The 255-acre Tamarack resort owned by the tribe had been scheduled for an Ulster County sheriff’s sale Thursday due to unpaid legal bills.
But a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Friday by the Western Mohegans and their investor – Illinois-based BGA LLC – forced the sale’s cancellation.
Average daily purses will increase about 44 percent at Belmont’s 56-date spring meet and 39 percent at its 40-date Saratoga summer meet, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday.
Thanks in large part to the slots operation that is finally up and running at Aqueduct, average daily purses, including stakes, will go from approximately $430,000 to $620,000 per day at Belmont and from approximately $670,000 to $930,000 at Saratoga.
Stakes purses will increase $1.9 million to $9.05 million at Belmont and $2.85 million to $13.35 million at Saratoga. Those numbers reflect an increase of about 27 percent for both meets over last year.
One of the impediments to the Buffalo Creek Casino in downtown Buffalo has been dismissed.
Two lawsuits were filed against the casino, one directly against the Seneca Nation and another that would impact the Nation depending on the ruling. On Tuesday, Judge William Skretny dismissed the case against the Seneca Nation.
MASSACHUSETTS
Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. and the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe today promised that “thousands of jobs’’ and an economic rebirth of the city will flow from the construction of a destination resort casino in Taunton.
In a joint statement released today, Hoye and Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the site chosen for the casino is at the intersections of Routes 24 and 140, which is also the exit near the Silver City Galleria Mall. The tribe has obtained an option to purchase a parcel of land.
Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye told the News Service on March 14th, that he expects the City Council to schedule a referendum on the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s proposal to build a casino in that city for the first or second Saturday in June.
While Massachusetts may add a few thousand relatively low paying casino jobs, it will come at the cost of widespread economic pain across tightly-knit New England, triggering thousands of job losses in neighboring states with significantly higher unemployment rates, industry observers warn.
The Bay State, which has one of the nation’s lowest jobless rates at 6.8 percent, could gain anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 jobs as it moves ahead with plans for three casinos and a slot hall, according to various estimates.
But that growth will be offset by the loss of jobs in both Connecticut, where unemployment is at 8.4 percent, and Rhode Island, where the misery index stands at 10.5 percent.
Massachusetts gamblers make up as much as 30 percent of the market for Connecticut casinos and Rhode Island’s Twin River slot complex, notes Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
NEW JERSEY
State officials are close to finishing a deal to lease Monmouth Park to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, which would take over operations at the racetrack on May 1, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority said Monday.
Similar to the lease with Gural, the horsemen group will pay $1 in annual rent for the first five years, said Ralph J. Marra Jr., NJSEA's senior vice president for legal and governmental affairs. The structure is designed to help the operators absorb losses during the initial period of the lease, before annual rent increases to $250,000 and then $500,000.
INDIAN GAMING
An improved economy and lower unemployment rates boosted revenue at American Indian gaming casinos in 2010, helping them rebound from their first ever drop in revenue a year earlier, a report said.
The 1% increase in gambling revenue generated by 448 American Indian facilities in 2010 marks a rebound from the 1% decline in revenue in 2009, according to a study released Tuesday by Alan Meister, an economist with Arlington, Va.-based Nathan Associates Inc.
In fact, Indian gaming actually outperformed the commercial casinos sector as well as the card room market.
The report's author, Dr Alan Meister, explained: "While Indian gaming grew slightly on a nationwide basis in 2010, the performance of Indian gaming varied widely across gaming facilities, tribes and states.
"It grew in 19 of 28 states, yet in only 49 per cent of all Indian gaming facilities."
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