At the start of summer, New York lawmakers passed a bill that called for state regulators to speed up the downstate casino licensing process. That piece of legislation, however, has gone untouched by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
And the frustration that had already been building continues to boil over regarding the snail’s pace that has been the awarding of three licenses, which currently sets up those new casinos to open no earlier than 2026.
Speaking on a panel at the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga earlier this month, Sen. Joseph Addabbo – who has stood at the forefront of expediting the licensing process – echoed statements he has frequently made over the past year. More specifically, Addabbo emphasized the need for more clarity from the Gaming Facility Location Board (GFLB).
“Why not codify the timelines?” Addabbo said. “Why not give definitive answers to why we’re not doing this on a timely basis when we did three licenses upstate in a fraction of time? Because we’ll have this same panel here five years from now.”
Deadline set in bill just days away
In June, New York lawmakers passed a bill that would offer more transparency in the licensing process while also speeding it up altogether.
Within that legislation, lawmakers called for state regulators to set a deadline of Aug. 31, 2024, for interested parties to submit applications for the three downstate casino licenses, which could open the door to offer online casinos in New York once the state legalizes iGaming.
Yet over two years have passed since Hochul signed off on green-lighting the downstate licensing process. Over a year has gone by since regulators released the first round of answers, with the second set reportedly to come out soon.
With each passing month that the GFLB does not seemingly get closer to issuing those licenses, the state of New York continues to lose out on thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue that is so needed by the likes of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as well as public education.
Before Addabbo and his cohorts passed the bill, he told PlayNY that the intent of issuing downstate licenses “was to realize the jobs and economic growth and revenue.” He added: “Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think that expediting it by one year that we were going to have wait three, four, five years.”
Why the lengthy wait for those licenses? As Addabbo put it during the conference:
“It’s a question we should not be asking of this panel, but of the governor.”
GFLB has implemented its own timeline
It appears Hochul will not sign off on the bill passed by state lawmakers earlier this summer, which indicates that the governor is content with the plan put in place by the GFLB in early July.
The board agreed on several amendments to its request for applications, including setting an application deadline of June 27, 2025.
During that meeting, board member Stuart Rabinowitz noted that the deadline is “based on our assessment of what’s fair and workable and efficient,” noting that the August timeline set in the bill “is too soon and would put some potential applicants under a lot of pressure and would favor some and disfavor others.”
“The deadline of now June 27 would be enough time for both the applicants to be ready and prepare and be within the New York City deadline for zoning as of right and at the same time would be early enough for us to thoroughly consider the applications when the came in and would meet what is our deadline of Dec. 31, 2025.”
