How will Sullivan fare if 3 new NY casinos get the green light? Odds are: poorly
If this weren’t so serious, it would be a joke.
The competition has begun for what could be three mammoth casinos run by some of the country’s biggest companies in the country’s largest untapped market – the New York City metropolitan area.
Several of those casino companies last month submitted preliminary information to the state for the three casino licenses that may be available as soon as this year. Those companies include MGM, Bally’s, Sands, Wynn and Resorts World, which is owned by the same company, Genting, which owns Resorts World Catskills just outside Monticello.
What will happen to Resorts World Catskills if not just one, not just two, but three huge full-fledged casinos open in a market of millions of potential gamblers who are minutes away from the casino – not up to two hours from Sullivan?
You don’t have to be a gambling analyst to know how much those three casinos could hurt Resorts World, and, more importantly for us, the local communities and residents who have profited from it.
You just have to listen to what a January 2021 state-contracted study said about the impact of New York City area casinos on Resorts World Catskills:
“RW Catskills will be adversely impacted by any of the new developments,” says the study by the Spectrum Gaming Group, which specifically says that “gaming revenues and the related taxes generated by (Resorts World) … can be expected to decline.”
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So what is the state doing after the study on the state Gaming Commission website said that Resorts World Catskills will be “adversely impacted’ by downstate casinos – despite the fact Gov. Kathy Hochul just told the USA Today New York Editorial Board she is “not looking to set up a dynamic where areas are cannibalizing each other” and that licenses are not only for New York City?
Not only is the state opening the bidding process for the casinos in New York City and the surrounding area that includes Yonkers, Rockland, Westchester and Long Island, it’s also allowing slot machine-like video lottery terminals to open in a new facility in Newburgh that’s about an hour closer to New York City than Resorts World Catskills. That means the state may allow four gambling spots that are closer to that huge metropolitan area market than Sullivan.
This is after the state previously acknowledged an Orange County casino would hurt one in Sullivan.
Here’s what it said in 2014 when it chose Resorts World Catskills (then called Montreign) as the only casino in our region – when it could have chosen two, including one from Orange:
“An Orange County casino could generate substantial revenues as a result of proximity to New York City,” it said, but “an additional facility in Orange County or a second in Sullivan County could destabilize that single project in the Catskill area.”
It doesn’t take a gambling analyst to figure out what three casinos in New York City and a conveniently located slot machine establishment in Orange would do to Resorts World Catskills.
Less business for the Sullivan casino could mean less business for the Sullivan companies that supply that casino with everything from flowers to bagels.
Less business for the casino could mean dwindling money for its workers who depend on tips from as many customers as possible.
Less business for the casino could also mean smaller annual payments for the primary host municipalities of Sullivan and the town of Thompson, along with area counties like Orange, Ulster, Dutchess and Delaware, which also receive annual payments.
What a slap in the face to the people of Sullivan who for decades fought and lobbied for the casino.
What a slap in the face to those who are finally profiting from it.
The only big winners from three New York City area casinos are the companies that run the casinos and the state that will license them.
As for the folks in Sullivan?
They lose.
steveisrael53@outlook.com
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: How will Sullivan fare if 3 new NY casinos are OK'd? Odds are: poorly
