It may not have taken place around a roulette wheel, but there was a palpable air of suspense as the state Gaming Facility Location Board announced the 3 of the nearly 20 communities hoping to get a piece of the gaming action on Wednesday.
The board was entitled to grant up to four licenses.
Some came up winners and while others crapped out.
The 5 member volunteer board immediately got down to business nixing all 7 casino proposals in Orange County and approving one Hudson Valley/Catskill site to the Montreign Resort and Casino in the tiny village of Thompson in the heart of Sullivan County.
Board Chairman Kevin Law says it wasn’t a blanket decision.
“We thought for the sustainability of one casino in the Catskill Region, to give it the best chance to succeed with everything that’s going on in the state and the surrounding states was to not have another casino in the region.”
He says the group considered issues of environmental impact, community opposition and financing in their decision making process.
The other successful tender was the Rivers Casino in Schenectady drawing cheers from the group opposed to the Capital View Casino in East Greenbush. The final approval went to the Lago Resort and Casino in Tyre Seneca County.
The Lago proposal was seen by some a controversial because Seneca County is part of the Finger Lakes and Broome and Tioga Counties in the Southern Tier were also vying for a casino of their own.
The decision to bypass the Southern Tier was weighted by the earlier decision of the day, to ban fracking in New York State.
The licenses are still subject to a final formal approval.
