Flashback: March 1930, five months after Black Tuesday set off the Great Depression, construction began on the Empire State Building. Less than 14 months later, one of the most iconic structures in the world opened its doors.
Here we are now, 93 years later. We’re two years removed from New York lawmakers voting to expedite three downstate casinos. Yet we still do not know who will be receiving those licenses. We still don’t know exactly where those casinos will go. And as Sen. Joseph Addabbo sees it, there is still no real end date to when that all will change.
Two years after helping decide to bring fully fledged casinos to the New York City area, which Addabbo calls “embarrassing.” Addabbo added that the longer this process drags on, the more he becomes worried about the process itself.
“My concern is the integrity of the process for the downstate licenses,” Addabbo told PlayNY on Tuesday.
“The more inactivity we have … it opens us up to a questionable process.”
Addabbo ‘disappointed’ in licensing process that has ‘languished about’
At the beginning of summer, lawmakers approved a bill that would set deadlines for the downstate licensing process, which could allow for licenseholders to offer NY online casinos once the state legalizes iGaming.
That bill, however, sat on the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul and went unsigned.
“I’m disappointed,” Addabbo said not only of Hochul’s decision to not sign the bill but also that this licensing process has dragged on for as long as it has.
“We gave the governor the opportunity to codify certain deadlines related to the downstate licenses so that New Yorkers and unions and electricians and plumbers and everybody else could figure out when these jobs would be created. And the governor saw fit not to sign a bill that has deadlines because this is a process that has languished about for two years now.”
Integrity of the process is key, Addabbo emphasized.
Because he has seen first-hand what happens when it is not protected.
Looking to avoid repeating mistake in 2010
Addabbo thought back to 2010, when then-Gov. David Paterson selected Aqueduct Entertainment Group to operate an incoming racino in Queens. Months later, however, the state Inspector General’s Office released a report saying Paterson exhibited poor oversight of the “tainted” selection process that many believed was rigged in favor of AEG. (Paterson later admitted he supported the bid as a favor to former Senate Democratic Majority Leader John Sampson, who was indicted in a separate real-estate scam.)
This ultimately cleared the way for Resorts World NYC to come to fruition and open its doors in 2011.
Addabbo does not want to see anything close to this happening again. But the longer this downstate process goes on, the more likely it could be embroiled in scandal once more.
“What happens is too much time goes by and the process gets infiltrated with money influence or other influence, and it’s a problem,” Addabbo told PlayNY.
“To keep the integrity of the process and keep its credibility, it has to continue to move. This process has rattled around for two years.”
Addabbo will introduce bill to codify licensing deadlines
Addabbo said he’s “just trying to get the process started.” It’s been over two years since lawmakers voted to expedite downstate licensing, “and we still have seen very, very little movement forward in those two years.”
For perspective, voters approved seven casino licenses in 2013 with four carved out for immediate use. All four were open within five years. The Gaming Facility Location Board may not announce downstate recipients until early 2026 – nearly four years after the 2022 vote.
“The current applicants that we think of, they’re getting frustrated,” Addabbo told PlayNY. “They’re ready. They’ve been ready. And now they’re getting frustrated because of the delay.
“The message that we’re sending is, ‘It’s not fun to do business in New York at this point, is it?’ Especially as it relates to the downstate licenses. This process is questionable. It’s becoming embarrassingly delayed, and that’s not right. That’s not what we voted on in 2022.”
This is why in January, when the legislative session begins, Addabbo plans to introduce new legislation that will codify the deadlines of the downstate licensing process. Doing so “lends credibility to the process,” Addabbo said, “because right now it’s lacking.”
“She should, hopefully, sign that,” Addabbo said, referring to Gov. Hochul. “And then we’ll at least know when these licenses will be in effect and who will be awarded a license.
“Because we could be having this exact same conversation six years from now because there’s no deadline. There’s no codified deadline. And any deadline now that’s on paper is not worth the paper it’s printed on. Because … we could blow past this deadline, no problem.”
