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Posts Tagged ‘Aqueduct’

Aqueduct in New York Expanding Gambling

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

New York has long been pining for expansion of gambling. The state has a huge deficit, as do most states. The recession was hard on the market and more and more states are logging huge budget shortfalls. One of the most viable options to changing things though is to bring in a good gambling plan. Remember that all gambling entities need to be licensed by the states they are centered in. This means that states have the ability to charge gambling companies. Of course the number of licenses are limited but this means that they can still make a good amount of revenue from the gaming companies if they bulk up the pricing per license. In addition, the states normally also take a portion of all revenues off the top of a casino in the form of tax revenue dollars. This means that not only do gambling companies offer big licensing dollars once a year, but they also offer huge revenue every month. Overall gambling companies are some of the biggest moneymakers for states today and that is why so many legislators are pushing for gaming companies to come in and bid on properties.

Now that New York has decided to bring in casino gambling, it is the Aqueduct that will experience expansion with slot machines being brought in. The plan had a lot of support from legislators due to the overall money on the table. The winning big for the games came from Stockbridge-Munsee tribal community—a tribe hoping to bring a large casino facility near New York. The tribe is on the verge of signing a deal with Governor Patterson that would allot for space and resources to create the casino. One of the added benefits beyond money though is the addition of new job positions for locals. It is estimated that the new facility would bring in hundreds of new jobs and also provide tax revenue dollars. Getting its tax revenue from casinos would allow New Yorkers to not have to go through a hefty increase in their own taxation. This sounds like a great plan for New York and most likely it is going to change things in the state. Expect more gaming companies to petition, but the state is ready for a big change to the market.

New York’s Aqueduct Finds Developer

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

If you need any more proof that gambling has taken over, then look at Ohio and New York. Both states are taking on casino gambling with the building of some new facilities for their gaming needs. Although New York has casinos already, legislators and organizers are still looking to continue developing it in the market. Aqueduct is the location now that holds races and it is looking to expand to bring slots gambling into the casino floor. The facility is hoping that slots will help to bring more customers into the location and research is showing that this is what may happen. Thousands of New Yorkers were polled and said that they would visit Aqueduct once slot machines are coming into the facility. It is Genting Group, a Malaysian Company that is taking on the task of adding slot machines to Aqueduct.

Part of the problem with revamping Aqueduct was that the state had to find the right developer to convert the race track to a racino. Because of the finalization of the plan, now the state of Ohio is also looking to follow in the same direction of bringing gambling to the revenue stream. Ohio just came up with a similar plan to implement their gambling initiatives. Now it is Harrah’s Entertainment that is going to direct the casinos operating in both Cleveland and Cincinnati. These are two premiere locations that are set to operate within the state. They are part of the four main casino locations that are eventually going to be up and running in the state. Harrah’s will be working along with Rock Gaming to operate the two casinos. Rock Gaming of course is a subsidiary of the huge company Rock Ventures. It is also tied to the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose owner is now part owner of the casinos at both locations. The best thing about Harrah’s Entertainment is that it comes equipped with a long line of successful gaming implementation and knows full well how to manage a new casino in a new area. The expertise of the companies organizers will surely benefit gambling and the state of Ohio.

New York Finds Casino Development Company

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

The state of New York has long wanted slots operating within its borders. It was over nine years ago that legislators approved the move and wanted to bring in slots as a means of generating extra cash. Though it sounded like a great idea, New Yorkers have had a difficult time in finding a developer to bring in the casinos needed. That has changed though. Malaysian-operating company Genting made a big and won the right to develop the casino in New York. The casino is scheduled to house a full gaming floor, slots parlor and a racetrack at the Aqueduct location in the state.

Prior to Genting’s entry into the bidding war, there were still a wide range of companies who voiced a desire to handle the project. The problem was that they didn’t have the funding or the expertise needed to bring the plan to fruition. It took some time find the right development company and now Genting is scheduled to reap the benefits of their hard work. So far Genting has proposed to the New York Lottery Officials that they can begin construction within the next few weeks and the project will be complete within the next six to nine months. It will have an addition of 1,500 slot machines for operations at the racing location. Aqueduct will be one of the biggest racinos in the country—that is a combination of race track and slots parlor. It is the newest wave in the world of gambling. Over the past few years race tracks have suffered greatly from lack of customers and slot machines are looked at as a means of revitalizing gaming and bringing in new customers. Many residents in New York have been waiting patiently for the casino to come to their area and have voice their opinion stating that they will be frequenting the casino once it is open. The revenue brought in by Aqueduct will be put towards aiding other race tracks within the state to maintain their own budgets and grow until they are solid financially themselves. It could take some time, but with the amount of people who are anticipating the new addition, it may not be as long as anyone thinks.

New Casino at Aqueduct

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

It seems that these days the gambling industry is taking any opportunity available to expand in an attempt to help the failing gambling industry. A partnership that includes Las Vegas-based Navegante Group was rejected Thursday by New York licensing authorities to build and operate a lucrative slot machine casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack. The move comes six weeks after the group won a contentious bidding process and was selected by Gov. David Paterson. While such an endeavor may have helped state revenue, it simply was not feasible under current guidelines. The governor’s office announced Aqueduct Entertainment Group had supplied insufficient financial details about some of its investors to the state’s Lottery Division. The group had been given until last Tuesday to supply the information. A spokesman for Paterson told the New York Times the group had been rejected. In an emailed statement, Aqueduct Entertainment Group attorney Barry Berke called the decision “both arbitrary and capricious.”
“In the event that AEG is not given an opportunity to address the issues raised by the Lottery, and the decision to reverse the prior selection of AEG as the successful bidder is not reconsidered, AEG intends to pursue all available remedies,” Berke said. Aqueduct Entertainment had been due to pay New York a $300 million licensing fee by the end of March. “As AEG has repeatedly stated, they remain ready, willing and able to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding and pay the $300 million licensing fee in accordance with the conditions placed upon AEG’s selection,” Berke said. Aqueduct Entertainment was chosen over four other bidders, all of which contained a casino operator and various New York-based developers and business entities.
This endeavor has acquired quite the audience and a number of reputable gaming companies were given consideration. Other casino companies that bid on the Aqueduct contract were MGM Mirage, Harrah’s Entertainment, Penn National Gaming and the Florida-based Hard Rock casinos. Wynn Resorts dropped out of the bidding process in November. Unfortunately for the state of New York, a huge amount of potential revenue will never be realized. Expects the casino to generate $450 million a year in revenue for the state to help offset and $7.4 billion budget gap. About 15 percent of the casino revenue will go to The New York Racing Association Inc., which operates the Aqueduct race track, Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park.

Wynn Pulls Bid for Aqueduct Racetrack

Monday, November 9th, 2009

The Wynn Resorts recently pulled their bid for a New York casino at Aqueduct.  New York Governor David Patterson was pushing heavily for the deal to go through for the Aqueduct Racetrack. Thus far the racetrack has been struggling due to the economy and the state was pining to install a slots parlor that houses 4,500 slot machines in the facility.  The recession has brought many race tracks around the country to their knees in terms of funding. They are somewhat a “dying breed” because customers aren’t gambling at them. The biggest problem is that customers aren’t visiting them at all. Many cities are hoping that installing huge slots parlors maybe the answer to their financial woes and New York was no different.

The Wynn Resorts were one of six different developers that has formerly submitted bids to work with the Aqueduct Racetrack. Each one was looking to bring the 4,500 machines to the track and cash in on the revenues.  Unfortunately the Wynn rethought its position and walked away from the bidding process. In a statement the Wynn released it noted, “We are confident that the state of New York will find a qualified operator to meet its needs at Aqueduct. We would like to thank our associates and community leaders for all their assistance in crafting our proposal.” They wished the state and the racetrack well and withdrew from competition for the bid.

Without Wynn, there will now be only five proposals on the table to be reviewed. The five developers have been notified to submit their final proposals. They were also informed that they should be prepared to ante up the $200 million licensing fee within thirty days of signing an agreement. With the recession’s aftermath still stinging, New York is hoping to ensure that companies that are now bidding on the project will have the financial strength to compete any project that they are starting to work on.  The $200 million licensing fee is hoped to thwart any moderately serious bidders from entering the competition.  The city wants the racetrack to be successful and hopes that a hefty slots parlor will be the answer to spurring traffic and revenue for the state budget and the facility.