Questions remain about whether New York’s gambling market, which includes thoroughbred and harness race tracks, video slot machine parlors, OTBs and the nation’s largest lottery, is saturated. Lawmakers and the gambling industry have explored a number of ways to assist the struggling casinos, as well as some of the racinos and other gambling halls nearby, to bolster their fortunes and ensure that they’re able to stay in operation and keep the economic development promises central to the 2013 constitutional amendment that authorized the non-tribal casinos. While the four non-tribal casinos are all relatively new - the first came online in December 2016, and the fourth, Resorts World Catskills, opened in August - none have met the financial benchmarks they set for themselves. The other tribal casino operator, the Seneca Nation, and the state’s remaining two upstate casinos are all expected to follow suit in the coming months. Rivers will be joined by the Tioga Downs casino later this week and two of the gambling halls operated by the Oneida Indian Nation on August 1. Andrew Cuomo, who attended the casino’s opening in 2017, did not attend Tuesday’s event. Former Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent signed baseballs for visitors while waitresses dressed as referees passed out hot dogs and boxes of cracker jacks. There were likely as many, or more, local elected officials, dignitaries from the gambling industry and prospective bettors packed into the new lounge area where sports betting takes place as there were patrons scattered across the rest of the casino floor during the mid-morning ceremony. (He placed $20 on the Seattle Mariners, who will play the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night, as the odds for the day’s New York Yankees and Mets games were not posted after they made their wagers.) Pretlow, Addabbo, and Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy were chosen to place the first bets, although Pretlow made a concerted effort to race slightly ahead of the other two. “We’re not in the left lane yet,” he said. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens), said he has likened New York to a broken-down car stuck on the side of the road as others sped by.īut, he said, those days are over, although the state hasn’t quite gotten up to speed.

Pretlow said New Jersey was “cleaning our clock” and his legislative counterpart, Sen. The Garden State’s embrace of sports betting loomed large at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the casino, which sits on land that was once home to the Alco factory. “So even though we’re political opposites, they’ve done good for the state of New York.” “If it wasn’t for them we never would have gotten to the Supreme Court, we wouldn’t be sitting here today,” he said.

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