Casino Licenses Ring Hollow For Racing

by Mike Kane

New York Thorougbred Breeders, Inc. president Barry Ostrager said that a full-scale commercial casino less than hour’s drive away will hurt Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack and the state’s burgeoning breeding industry.

The Lago Resort and Casino in tiny Tyre in rural Seneca County was one of three proposals recommended for upstate New York by the Gaming Facility Location Board. In front of a standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people in a meeting room at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, the board announced that it also selected the Montreign Resort Casino in the town of Thompson, near Monticello, in Sullivan County and the Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor in the City of Schenectady.

The five-man board chaired by Kevin S. Law, president of the Long Island Association, considered 16 proposals to place casinos in three upstate geographic regions. It decided to make three recommendations to the New York State Gaming Commission and opted not to use a fourth selection to place a second casino in one of the regions.   

The board did not recommend any of the six proposed projects in Orange County, the closest-eligible county to New York City, saying that a casino there would likely preclude one in the Catskill Mountains counties, Sullivan and Ulster, from being successful.

The Lago site is located 40 miles east of the Finger Lakes Racetrack in Farmington. Finger Lakes, which was founded in 1962, has an approximately 160-day season. Owned and operated by Delaware North, Finger Lakes also has one of the nine video lottery terminal (VLT) racinos in the state. Ostrager said that the racino, which produces revenue that helps fund the horsemen’s purse account and racing operations, will likely lose business to the Lago Resort & Casino.

“To the extent that there is going to be a full-fledged casino at 45 minutes away from Finger Lakes, that’s going to have a significant adverse impact on the ability of Delaware North to profitably conduct its Finger Lakes operations, including the Finger Lakes Racetrack,” he said.

“The Finger Lakes Racetrack is exceedingly important to the local horsemen and of particular importance to the New York breeders because 80% percent of the horses that compete at Finger Lakes Racetrack are New York-breds. Those horses not only generate positive economic impact for the people working at the racetrack, the feed suppliers and others, but starters at Finger Lakes generate stallion awards and breeder awards for New York breeders. So the New York Thoroughbred Breeders are concerned about the long-term viability of Finger Lakes Racetrack.”

Ostrager, who is also a member of the New York Racing Association’s Reorganization Board, said he hopes that state officials will make adjustments that will soften the expected blow to Finger Lakes.

“We don’t think it’s the intent of the Executive and Legislative branches to adversely affect the Western New York racing and breeding economy,” he said. “Presumably some kind of fix can be structured to maintain the viability of Finger Lakes Racetrack. It’s important to the local community and it’s important to New York breeders on a statewide basis.”

Ostrager said that a casino in Schenectady, 24 miles to the south, will not likely be felt during NYRA’s popular summer season at Saratoga Race Course.

“My own personal opinion is that Saratoga stands on its merits and will continue to be a very successful race meet,” he said.

Jeff Gural blasted the board for selecting the Lago site over his proposal to build a casino at his Tioga Downs Standardbred track near Binghamton in the state’s Southern Tier. Gural also operates the Meadowlands in New Jersey and Vernon Downs, a Standardbred track and racino between Syracuse and Utica.

“It will hurt me at Vernon,” Gural said. “It certainly screwed the people in the Southern Tier. There are five casinos where Lago is and now are no casinos in the Southern Tier. That’s shocking.”

Gural said he thought his Tioga Downs proposal would prevail in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes region because it made geographic sense and wouldn’t compete with established racinos and the Native American casino, Turning Stone, between Syracuse and Utica. Nevertheless, he said he worried that the board would reach a different decision.

“I was concerned, to be honest, that they had a committee of people who knew nothing about the industry and I guess that’s what you get,” he said. “I think they are well-intentioned, but they certainly screwed Turning Stone. They put Finger Lakes out of business. They probably put Vernon Downs out of business. Basically, they put two casinos out of business and screwed the third one.”