Cuomo ups the ante on gambling
When an experienced poker player is dealt a winning hand, his next move is to fatten the pot. That must be the plan behind Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's call for a comprehensive strategy to determine the future of legalized gambling in New York.
That's fine as long as it doesn't take too long -- and the ultimate outcome isn't at the expense of Southampton's Shinnecock Nation, which is well along in its proposal to open a full casino at Belmont Park. The tribe's plan is critical to the economic health of Nassau County.
To get the most for the state coffers and resolve myriad legal and political Indian gaming issues, Cuomo understandably wants time to assess the strengths of all the players at the table and determine how to leverage their needs. Raising the stakes right now are raceway operators who want to expand beyond video slot machines and are betting that New Yorkers would support eliminating the state constitutional ban on gambling.
But that's a frightening prospect for the tribes, which are not bound by the state restriction. Three of them -- the Senecas, Oneidas and Mohawks -- are already running full casinos upstate, while Long Island's Shinnecocks, who now have federal recognition, are trying to get a piece of the action downstate. The Shinnecock effort to open a casino at Belmont no doubt is one reason the state's eight racino operators -- soon to be nine, when video slots open at Aqueduct in Queens -- are trying to cut out the tribes as middlemen.
Cuomo could use the threat of legalization to negotiate bigger revenue streams from the tribes and settle several disputes, especially with the Seneca Nation, which claims the state owes it $80 million in Thruway tolls for motorists who drive through their land. The Senecas are also withholding tens of millions of dollars in revenue it owes the state, claiming racinos were permitted too close to their Niagara Falls casino. They say that proximity violates their contract with the state.
The prospect of gubernatorial support for legalization could result in better deals from the private operators, mostly on trotter tracks such as Yonkers, but also at Aqueduct, which benefit from generous payouts from the state's struggling off-track betting operations. And if miracles do exist, perhaps Cuomo could solve the myriad problems of the always-coming-up-short New York Racing Association.
Legalization isn't easy, however. Bills would have to be approved two years in a row by the State Legislature before an amendment could go on the ballot statewide. That process would take at least three years. Yet even raising such a possibility is a shrewd move that gives Cuomo an edge with a legislature that has a vested interest in how to cut the deck. Support for legalization, even just at the existing racinos, may be the only way to get Genting New York, which paid $380 million for its slots license at Aqueduct, not to oppose the Shinnecocks at Belmont.
But in every high-stakes game there is a big loser, and in this case it shouldn't be the Shinnecocks, who have wisely decided not to pursue gaming on their ancestral land. This region needs the jobs and casino development at Belmont Park, and another in Suffolk County. The tribe has a credible plan -- and Long Island has urgent needs -- that Albany mustn't ignore.