Ironically, the initial deadline in the bill has already lapsed. It established the application deadline as 31 August 2024. According to the timeline established by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), applications for the three downstate licenses are due by 27 June 2025.
There are 11 proposed casino projects in and around New York City that have been revealed to the public. However, no bidder has submitted a formal application yet.
S9673A stipulated that community advisory boards, which must review casino bids in their districts, were to be formed within 30 days after applications close. Decisions would then have been required after 120 days of review. The decision deadline for licenses under the bill coincided with the current NYSGC timeline, with the Gaming Facility Location Board set to grant the three downstate licenses by 31 December 2025.
Governor Hochul stated in her veto message that “altering the timeline” for casino licensing would be inequitable to some bidders. “Changing the timeline would likely have the impact of helping certain bidders and hurting others,” Hochul noted. “I cannot support a bill that aims to change the rules in the middle of the process.”
She also defended the established timeline. “As part of the process, applicants are required to work with local governments so that their projects comply with the respective zoning laws of the municipalities,” she stated. “Potential applicants have been continuously working toward ensuring that their projects are compliant.”
Addabbo responds to Hochul
State Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr, the bill’s senate sponsor, issued a statement today (26 November) criticizing the veto.
“Codifying a timeframe for an already unduly prolonged downstate casino process would merely improve the process by allowing it to actually begin accepting applications,” Addabbo wrote. “This informs the unions and residents of New York when quality job creation could be expected, enables the MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority] to calculate when to expect funds from the license fees, and allows it to project the significant future revenues from the casino operations.”
Addressing Hochul’s statement that she couldn’t change the process midstream, Addabbo said: “My legislation sought to bring credibility to the current state of the downstate casino process, not to ‘alter the timeframe’ as stated in the governor’s veto message, since no codified timeframe to start accepting applications exists at all.
“The veto of S9673A would further delay the creation of thousands of union jobs, defer guaranteed funding for the MTA anticipated to initially exceed $2 billion, as well as ongoing tax revenue for the MTA. Therefore, what rational reason is there for the state to impede the submission of applications for a downstate casino process indefinitely?”
Addabbo added that he plans to make another attempt at timeline legislation. “I intend to reintroduce revised legislation that will codify the governor’s proposed timeframe to begin accepting applications in June 2025 and finalize the process in December 2025,” he stated.
“Codifying a timeframe does not ‘change the rules in the middle of the process’ as the governor also mentioned in her veto message, but will technically add validity to a process that is severely deficient in structure and effectiveness by not having a statutory timeframe for accepting casino license applications or completion.”