A jackpot of choices for Staten Island gamblers

With four casinos due to close in Atlantic City, N.J., gaming moguls in both states are competing to build the next gambling hotspot - and they're all less than an hour and a half away from Staten Island, with one just a short drive away planned for the Meadowlands.

A constitutional amendment passed in November that permits commercial casinos in New York has resulted in 16 gaming enterprises vying for four available licenses to build casinos at locations Upstate. Over the bridge in New Jersey, the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce unveiled plans recently for a "Las Vegas-style casino."

Staten Island, the gambling town

And if money spent on lottery tickets is any indication of Staten Islanders' gambling habits, then these locations will draw large crowds from the borough.

According to the New York Lottery, Staten Islanders spent more than US$ 208 million on state lottery tickets of all varieties in fiscal year 2012-2013.  For fiscal year 2013-2014, Staten Islanders spent a total of US$ 216 million on all lottery games, said Carolyn Happman, a NY Lottery spokeswoman. "We had a lot of big jackpots last year, particularly the Powerball and Staten Islanders did what everyone else did; they ran out to buy them," she said.

A short ride away

The proposal for the East Rutherford location will likely draw armies of Islanders, since the venue will be the closest casino to the borough at only a 25 minutes drive from Mid-Island.

Positioned northeast of MetLife Stadium, less than nine miles west of Manhattan,  plans for the new casino call for a two 1,000-room hotels, a one-million-square-foot convention center and a youth sports center at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. "A casino will allow the Meadowlands to draw on an already existing customer base that wants to gamble and be entertained, but is currently driving past us to get to casinos in nearby states," said Jim Kirkos, CEO of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber.

Islanders betting closer to home

But there are already closer gaming venues that have fostered a change in Staten Islanders' gambling habits. Borough residents no longer have to drive two and a half hours to Atlantic City to be bathed in the casino experience. Many are now opting for a half-hour ride to Jamaica, Queens, where Resorts World Casino New York City, which opened in 2011, has just about everything you'll find in Atlantic City, except card dealers and black jack games.

With 25,000 people walking through the doors everyday of Resorts World Casino, about 2 percent - or an estimated 500 people per day - are Staten Islanders, said Ryan Eller, Resorts CEO. "We've offered options - from electronic gaming tables to slots - that have allowed people's gaming habits to change," he said.

Technology beyond slots

Resorts is the Big Apple's only casino that falls under the category of a Video Lottery Terminal (VLT), which offer slots and electronic table games, like craps, roulette and baccarat. Also nearby is Empire City Casinos at Yonkers Raceway, which opened in 2006. VLTs are allowed to exist, by law, in New York on property adjoining a horse racing facility, and are packed with high-tech machines, which include just about every table game except Black Jack.

For example Empire City has 5,300 VLTs, giving gamblers almost all the opportunities you'd find in a full service casino, minus the live dealer. "We absolutely get a lot of people from Staten Island because we are only an hour and 10 minutes away versus two and half hours (to get to Atlantic City)," said Taryn Duffy, director of public affairs for Empire City Casino.

At Resorts, electronic gaming tables feature virtual dealers on large high-definition  screens, while others look like something out of the Jetsons, with circular craps gaming terminals centered around huge dice that you roll by hitting a button on your table.

Upstate options

A hearing has been set for Sept. 24 in Albany for the public to express their views about siting four new casinos in the Albany area, Catskills/Hudson Valley and Eastern Southern Tier, said Lee Park, a spokesman for the New York Gaming Commission. The new law allows for up to seven casinos to be built in the state, including with New York City, "but no more than four can be sited for a period of seven years from the issuance of the first license," he said. So, the possibility of a casino within the city limits is still yearsway.

Statewide, the expected revenue to be generated from the new Upstate casinos is US$ 430 million. And the four new gaming venues will create 10,000 jobs, according to the state Gaming Commission. Seven years down the road, three new casinos can be built in New York City, with Staten Island as a possible site.

Resorts World Casino has put out two applications for new full-service gambling facilities for the Orange County, N.Y. area. "We chose Orange County for its proximity to New York City," said Eller. "We believe both of our applications are very compelling. ...One application is for Sterling Forest Resort in the town of Tuxedo, which will be an integrated resort with gaming and non-gaming experiences. The second project is Resorts World Hudson Valley, to be located outside the town of Newburgh."