Westchester officials decry Orange County casino plans
Nobody puts Yonkers in a corner.
That”™s the message local legislators and business advocates delivered at a press conference at the Empire City Casino in Yonkers on Wednesday, arguing that the pending license applications to put casinos in Orange County would result in local jobs and funding for education being lost.
Empire City Casino generates close to $300 million per year in funds that go toward education and provides jobs to 1,400 residents of the Bronx and Westchester.
“Building any gaming facility so close to ones that already exist is a losing bet for New York,” said John Ravitz, the executive vice president of The Business Council of Westchester. “Allowing a developer to get a gaming license so close to Yonkers would essentially cannibalize an already-successful business.”
The Orange County Partnership, a not-for-profit economic development agency based in Goshen, issued a statement saying that the Westchester-based opposition to casino development in Orange County is about protecting the Rooney family”™s business.
“We at the Orange County Partnership believe that those engaged in today”™s event at the Empire City Racino are espousing anti-competition rhetoric aimed at promoting the position of one racino owner that would like to operate a full-fledged casino resort at the site in the coming years,” the statement said.
The New York state Legislature legalized casino gambling in 2012 and 2013. A public referendum in 2013 amended the state constitution to allow up to seven full-scale casinos, in addition to existing Native American casinos, to create jobs in economically depressed areas upstate. According to the Orange County Department of Planning website, there are six pending proposals to put casinos in the towns of Tuxedo, Woodbury, South Blooming Grove, Newburgh and New Windsor.
“As the author of this law, the spirit of this law was for upstate economic development, definitely not to cause the demise of any existing entities,” said Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, who chairs the Assembly”™s Racing and Wagering Committee. “A full-fledged casino less than 30 minutes from this place would have a devastating effect on the monies and jobs that are generated at Empire City.”
While state law would allow the construction of a casino in Orange County if approved, opponents of the five proposals argue that the intent of the legislation to legalize casino gambling was to benefit and revitalize areas like the Catskills, once a thriving resort area colloquially known as the “Borscht Belt.”
Originally known as Empire City Race Track, Yonkers Raceway opened in 1899, and was the site of Seabiscuit”™s win in the 1936 Scarsdale Handicap. It was converted into a harness racing track in 1942 and was bought by the Rooney family in 1972.
Empire City Casino first opened at Yonkers Raceway in 2006. As the popularity of thoroughbred and harness racing declined, several tracks in New York state became “racinos,” where revenue from on-site slot machines is used to supplement purses for thoroughbred or harness racing. Those racinos are not allowed to have table games on their floors ”” a restriction that would place them at a competitive disadvantage against the proposed casinos in Orange County.
“When we first developed the racinos, it was to help a struggling racetrack to increase the monies that went into the equine industry, to help support the equine industry and also support education,” Pretlow said.
It is unknown how extensively an Orange County casino would hurt Empire City Casino”™s business.
Taryn Duffy, the director of public affairs at Empire City Casino, said that when Resorts World Casino opened at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens in December 2011, the company estimated a potential 30 to 35 percent drop in monthly revenues. Since then, though, the worst monthly revenue drop at Empire City was 15 percent.
“We”™re thrilled with that outcome,” Duffy said.
However, with more states legalizing casino gambling, the gaming industry, legislators and the public have become acutely aware of the problems created by the rapid expansion of the gaming industry.
“Look at Atlantic City,” said state Sen. George Latimer, D-Rye. “That is exactly the path we”™ll be on if we aren”™t careful about where we site these casinos.”
Latimer, who worked in hotel market analysis, pointed out that new casinos in Philadelphia, Delaware and Bethlehem, Pa., cut Atlantic City”™s share of the mid-Atlantic gaming market. The city has seen four casinos close in 2014, including Revel Hotel and Casino, which opened in 2012 and was constructed at a cost of more than $2 billion, only to go bankrupt and shut down last month.
Duffy, the spokesperson for Empire City, said that Empire City has every intention of bidding on a full casino license once one becomes available, and noted that Empire City already withstood the competition from the Resorts World Casino by adding amenities with a $50 million expansion.
“This isn”™t an issue about competition; it”™s about the intent of the legislation and what”™s best for New York state as a whole,” said Duffy in a phone interview. “If the legislation is implemented as intended, they can revitalize the areas in need without putting jobs and revenue at risk.”
Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers, whose office organized the press conference, said that decisions on the Orange County casinos will be made in the near future, possibly before the end of October.
Mayer said she hopes that the intent of the law that legalized casino gambling in New York state will be followed.
“It was intended to strengthen the Borscht Belt, not Orange County.”