Casino Selection Process in New York under Investigation

9 years ago
Casino Selection Process in New York under Investigation
20:51
25 Feb

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has started an investigation of the last year’s casino selection handled by Andrew Cuomo’s administration. The casino selection is now under the spotlight as Eric is trying to see if everything was fair and legally done.

Investigators from Eric’s office have been interviewing the bidders that failed to receive one of the three licenses that state awarded in December 2014. Jeff Gural, owner of the Tioga Downs, one of the bidders that didn’t get a casino license, has met with the attorneys general office and said that all the bidders will be interviewed to make sure that the process was completely legal.

Eric Schneiderman wants to know if the bidders were simply passed over or if there was something else, like conflict of interest, that influenced the casino selection.

In December, the three sites in Schenectady, Seneca Counties and Sullivan were selected for proposed casinos. The board decided not to award the fourth license even though there was a lot of interest in the State Southern Tier, which was somehow left out in the end. The Governor Cuomo has requested the Gaming Facility Board to reopen the bidding process and consider a casino in Southern Tier, the area that was in need of an economic boost, which the board approved.

According to the crainsnewyork.com the board will release the report which will describe a process of selection in detail. The spokesman of the board, Lee Park said that all material linked to the selection process is available on their website.

Chief executive at Gaming USA Corp.Alan Woinski has explained that it isn't unusual that the casino licensing approval is a target of an investigation or a lawsuit due to the bidders that didn't get the approval or to people that are against casinos in general. New York already has five tribal casinos and nine slot parlors at racetracks so three regions that will become home to new casinos are picked to avoid competition with existing casinos and to boost the economy.

It remains to be seen will the investigators find anything illegal in the process or it is just a sort of a vendetta due to the issues that Cuomo and Schneiderman have had over the past years. According to the media reports Andrew Cuomo had a very inappropriate comment about Schneiderman's eyelashes, asking if the attorney general is using the eyeliner. Eric Schneiderman responded that his dark, long eyelashes were the result of the eye drops that he was using for glaucoma.

Photo: capitalnewyork.com


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Ines is a Journalism student with many interests, poker being one of these. Her passion to learn and develop her horizons make her a valuable contributor to the site's content.Read more

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