New York Governor Leads Push for Casino Law

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is leading a concerted campaign to bring casino gambling to the Northern state. This is a pretty worrying piece of gambling news for New Jersey, as Atlantic City continues to struggle in recent times. Any New York City casino could seriously impact on Atlantic City visitor numbers.

While Mr. Cuomo himself has taken a backseat role, his team have been leading the push, with important aides, such as Director of State Operations Howard Glaser, publicly pushing the constitutional amendment that would legalize casino gambling in upstate New York. The state, however, is a long way behind other US states, some of which are in the process of creating the first American mobile casinos, never mind land based ones.

With American gambling laws recently allowing the creation of online casinos, many states are looking into the matter. 3 states have so far passed legislation to allow online gambling, Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware.

A spokesman for Governor Cuomo has spoken about the move, saying: “A gaming resort development program to grow jobs upstate was an initiative of Gov. Cuomo’s, and we will work with all elected officials who support the measure to educate voters about the referendum.”

With many US states looking towards gambling ventures to bring in new funding, the governors office believes that licensed gambling properties could bring in an extra $430 million annually in tax, not a small figure. As such, the coalition of supporters have moved quickly to pave the way for development, with deals already struck with Native American operators within the state.

That deal will see any new casino opened far away from any Native American casino, and there are already interested parties from nearby casinos. Indeed, with Atlantic City struggling so badly, New York is seen as a safer bet for many casino operators, including Connecticut’s Foxwood’s Resort Casino, who are reportedly interesting in a new New York casino.