working is for fools?
Legal gambling’s big winners are the politicians
New York’s 2013 decision to OK more casinos in the state is proving a wise move — for politicians. For regular New Yorkers, not so much.
Take the $2 million-a-year Vernon Downs bailout that state lawmakers slipped through at last week’s special session. As The Post’s Carl Campanile reported Wednesday, the central New York racino’s owner, Jeff Gural, had handed out $400,000 to political committees (roughly half to Gov. Cuomo’s) over the past seven years.
True, Gural threatened to shut down if he didn’t get big tax breaks, and pols promptly took credit for saving the site’s 300 jobs.
But the politicians also once insisted casinos and racinos would boost the economy without tax breaks.
Backers of the seven gambling parlors OK’d in 2013 vowed they’d gin up fresh tax revenue for the state — not split the industry’s take into such small pieces they’d need taxpayer bailouts to survive.
Yet Gural says he was fine until three new casinos opened nearby.
In all, 16 casinos and racinos outside the city are fighting over betting dollars, with another set to open next year. Gural whines that’s he’s losing $170,000 a month at Vernon Downs and complained about how hard it was to finance another property, Tioga Downs.
Sheesh. What did he expect? Casinos are hurting across the country. Atlantic City has seen five close, with 11,000 jobs lost, since 2014. The state had to take over the city to fend off bankruptcy.
But for the politicians, more casinos mean more “contributions.” And if it means $2 million in state handouts, well, hey — it’s not their money.
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