New York’s Governor backs casinos

The Governor told the news he will call on the state Legislature during his upcoming State of the State address to move forward with the necessary votes to legalize casino gambling in New York.

Cuomo said that if the Legislature took the necessary steps, he’d spend a year working out the details of a casino plan before attempting a voter referendum on it in 2013. While he said he’d be open to seeing a casino in New York City, he hasn’t ruled out other spots as well.

Cuomo launched a new economic development blueprint that invests billions of dollars in key public-private sector partnerships and rebuilding infrastructure to create thousands of new jobs across the state, proposed a reinvention of how government operates in order to get results for the people while protecting taxpayer dollars, and detailed a series of actions to strengthen New York's legacy as the progressive capital of the nation.

"New York State is on the way to coming back stronger than ever before. By working together in a bipartisan manner and putting the people first, we have established the credibility to govern and to lead. Now we must build on what we have already accomplished to begin to undo decades of decline. We have big problems, but we are confronting them with big solutions. Now is the time to get to work, building a New New York together," Cuomo said.

Cuomo told the Daily News the economic windfall that casino gambling would bring in is far more significant than a potential spike in crime or increase in gambling addiction critics say are attendant with gambling.

The governor noted the state has gaming now, in the form of Native American casinos and racinos, but he said New York can generate tens of thousands of jobs with legalized gaming. That would take the approval of two consecutive state legislatures and a vote by state residents. “This is not about chips and cards. This is about jobs the casino industry generates,” he told the legislature in his Albany address.

Cuomo told the New York Daily News he’d support placing a casino in a place like Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, which already houses a virtual casino.
For years, Native American tribes have been trying to convince Washington to allow them to build in Sullivan County. The county already has a racino with video gaming at Monticello Casino and Raceway.