New York governor under pressure to pick winners in saturated casino market

The siting panel, which the state’s gambling chief said could award no licenses, will hear final pitches next week. It will then weigh Cuomo’s stated hope that casinos can add US$ 430 million to state and local coffers against the reality that there’s little room for growth. Operators say they can overcome that as they try to set themselves apart.

“No doubt there is a saturation issue in the Northeast,” said Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for Genting, which is proposing a US$ 1.5 billion resort-casino in Tuxedo about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of New York City. “What resorts like ours are trying to do is attract a new clientele.”

Genting, the largest casino operator in Malaysia, would tap a database of Asian customers. Caesars would draw on its list of 45 million gamblers and celebrity chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Bobby Flay to get attention for an US$ 880 million casino about 50 miles north of Manhattan, according to filings with the state. Mohegan Sun’s US$ 550 million casino about 90 miles northwest of the city would build on a local tourism association’s efforts to attract the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to the Catskills.

Rejection Power

If those arguments don’t sway the panel, there may be no new casinos in the third-most-populous state, Rob Williams, acting director of the New York State Gaming Commission, said in a telephone interview. “The regional market is being viewed by the members,” said Williams, speaking on behalf of the siting board. “If they determine that the demand is not there or the model is not appropriate, they have the ability to reject every application.”