gary finch reads ny const art 1 sec 3 again and again and realiz s that some choose to work rather than be nassau county executive and....
Sunday, April 1, 2018
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 72 | 0 | 3:15 PM | 12:15 PM | PDT | |||
| GP | GULFSTREAM PARK | 72 | 0 | 12:35 PM | 12:35 PM | EDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 24 | 3:30 PM | 12:30 PM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 168 | 24 | 2:30 PM |
Struggling casino touted by Cuomo seeks state bailout
The struggling del Lago Casino in the Finger Lakes is looking for a government bailout just 13 months after it opened — despite Cuomo promising that new casinos upstate would be a win-win.
“We were told these gaming facilities would be an economic stimulus for the state. We were told they would generate tax revenue, not cannibalize it,” raged Assemblyman Gary Finch (R-Auburn).
“The paint on this place isn’t even dry, and they want a bailout? It’s absurd.”
Cuomo told reporters Wednesday that he doesn’t “want to get into the business of bailing out private concerns” — but Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan told USA Today this week that relief for del Lago is being discussed in current budget negotiations.
And just last year Cuomo ponied up a $2 million tax break to the failing Vernon Downs “racino,” claiming it would save hundreds of jobs.
Del Lago, which pays a 37 percent tax to the state on its slot- machine earnings and 10 percent on table games, has not said specifically what it wants from lawmakers — although a tax break could be in the cards.
“I think we need some help at this point, and what the future holds time will tell,” del Lago owner Tom Wilmot, a Rochester mall developer, told USA Today on Tuesday as he visited the state Capitol building hat-in-hand.
The casino blames its problems on the Seneca Nation of Indians, which stopped sharing gambling revenues with the state last year and used those newfound funds to lure gamblers to its own casinos in the region.
The Senecas acted after competing casinos authorized by the state opened.
Cuomo backed the $425 million del Lago and three other new Vegas-style gaming facilities in 2014, promising they’d drive business upstate and wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent.
“The state is not putting in a penny. We don’t have any money on the table,” Cuomo said at the time. “It is only upside for the state.”
Experts warned in 2014 that the new casinos would saturate the market and struggle to turn a profit — and are now rolling their eyes.
“Things are playing out as I predicted,” Clyde Barrow, a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, told The Post.
“It’s not as if me and others weren’t saying this at the time, but they want to hear the best-case scenario.”
SEE ALSO
Barrow’s 2014 study — commissioned by Oneida County, which is home to a rival Indian casino — found del Lago’s estimate of earning $263 million in its first year was way off, and it would be more like $158 million.
The actual figure was $150 million, according to Moody’s Investors Service, which early this year downgraded its outlook on the floundering pleasure palace from “stable” to “negative.”
Del Lago is blaming its losses on “blatantly unfair” competition from the nearby Seneca Nation-owned casinos, which recently stopped paying taxes to the state and local governments.
“Del Lago can compete on an even playing field but not one that’s tipped so heavily toward the Senecas,” casino spokesman Steven Greenberg said in a statement.
But Barrow says everyone knew that was a risk going in.
“Everyone was talking about this at the time, so it was a known risk,” he said.
“They went into it with eyes wide open.”
No comments:
Post a Comment