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New York betting does include casinos, even though it flies under the radar donated to the state’s sports betting scene (which is now number one in the entire country). But here’s the problem: the casinos are all in upstate New York — far, far away from the city.
This effectively hamstrings the state’s betting potential. Previous reports have said the state made $176 million in revenue from licensed casinos between 2017 and 2022. That’s not a bad chunk of change, but it pales in comparison to next-door New Jersey betting, which has a more accessible marketplace for casinos. Naturally, when you make casino access hard for the city-slickers and their big wallets like New York does, the ceiling is way lower than it should be for the most affluent state in the country.
For this reason, Senate Bill 9673A was kicked around inside the state. It was a bill passed that would’ve expedited the bids of three casinos in “downstate” aka New York City. However, passing a bill isn’t enough — it needs to be signed into law by the governor. Welp, that didn’t happen as well explain in this article so stick with us.
Hochul Strikes Down Senate Bill
Senate Bill 9673A actually passed in June. But get this: the leaders — which are predominantly Democrats — never actually sent the bill over to Governor Kathy Hochul. They presumed she’d vetoed it and didn’t even try. They were right, but still, it doesn’t feel democratic when an accepted bill isn’t neglected altogether.
But back to Hochul. The bill magically made its way to her desk this month — despite writing in the language saying applications for casino licenses would have to be submitted by August 31, 2024, a date long passed by now. Anyway, the governor did veto the bill. Her rationale was simple:
“Changing the timeline would likely have the impact of helping certain bidders and hurting others. I cannot support a bill that aims to change the rules in the middle of the process,” Hochul said.
The keyword in that quote is “certain bidders.” We don’t know for sure who these bidders are, but we have a pretty good hunch as we’ll get into next.
Preferential Treatment For Another Casino?
Back in October, there was some bombshell news involving Hochul and a famous sports team owner in the state — Steve Cohen of the New York Mets. If you’re not familiar with Cohen, here’s the gist on him: he’s a mega-millionaire from the hedge-fund world and a diehard Mets fan. Cohen has sunk countless money into the Mets, trying to field a World Series winner, only to fall shy year after year.
But back to Hochul. Word on the street was that Hochul planned to re-do the 2024 budget and broaden the permitted uses of city parkland in the process. This has been the biggest hindrance to Conen’s idea of building a casino near Citi Field where his Mets call home. Officials say Cohen would use public land to create the private billion-dollar project, which is a no-go under current laws.
Going back to the three licenses we mentioned in downstate New York, you’d think Cohen would be a frontrunner to land them if that land issue was dealt with. He is a mega-donor to the Democratic party, including a $136,700 donation to Hochul’s 2022 campaign. He was also the biggest donor to the New York State Democratic Committee. How convenient, eh?
Of course, Hochul denied this story — and emphatically so. “There are people, shady people, who will try to manipulate the [casino bidding] process to their benefit and be willing to put out lies. I have had no intention of putting this in my executive budget,” she said.
Bill Sponsor Responds To Hochul
The sponsor of the bill is none other than Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. After the veto, he wasted no time in releasing a statement and “controlling the narrative” per se:
“My legislation was attempting to bring credibility to the current state of the downstate casino process, not to ‘alter the timeframe’ as stated in the governor’s veto message since no codified timeframe to start accepting applications exists at all,” said the senator.
Addabbo wasn’t done there. He pulled out the classic “it hurts jobs” line of thinking that politicians love falling back on.
“The veto of S9673A would further delay the creation of thousands of union jobs, postpone guaranteed funding for the MTA projected to be initially over $2 billion, as well as ongoing tax revenue for the MTA. Therefore, what rational reason is there for the state to hinder the submission of applications for a downstate casino process indefinitely?”
For what it’s worth, Addabbo brought up another plan. The senator says he wants to introduce another piece of legislation. This time, the dates would be accepting applications in June 2025 and finalizing the process in December 2025.
Ultimately, whether this does or doesn’t happen will fall back to Hochul. It’s honestly tough to say whether she’s for or against betting. After all, the legal sports betting market was created by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, not her. So it’s tough to pin down her real beliefs on the subject. Time will have to tell.
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