SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) — Three new upstate New York casinos have so far failed to generate the big payoffs they projected, meaning less money shared with towns, cities and counties.
Slot machine and table game revenue from casinos in the Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier and Schenectady have fallen short of the rosy revenue projections operators produced when applying for licenses. For instance, Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady had gambling revenues of $105 million after nine months, putting it on track to finish short of its minimum $181 million projection.
And that has affected Schenectady, where city officials are bracing to bring in hundreds of thousands dollars less than the $2.75 million they budgeted for this year from the revenue. Councilman Vince Riggi likened the situation to a kid at Christmas getting fewer presents than expected.
“It’s a plus, but it’s still a disappointment, that’s the way I see it,” Riggi said. “We were told to expect much more.”
State officials and casino owners argue any revenue from Rivers, del Lago Resort and Casino in the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier’s Tioga Downs Casino and Resort represents a stream of money for localities that didn’t exist before. And they say the casinos have delivered on the state’s main goal of creating jobs and new economic activity in struggling areas.
“It’s been a huge success. Whatever has been promised from an economic development standpoint has been delivered by the casinos,” Tioga owner Jeff Gural said. “The real losers, frankly, are the owners of the three casinos.”
The casinos’ slots and table games have raised $88.8 million. Eighty percent of the money goes to public schools, which have set levels of aid unaffected by casino revenue fluctuations. The rest is goes to county and municipal governments.
That comes in addition to gambling revenue from horse tracks and five Indian casinos. The Indian casino payments are down steeply this year because the Senecas stopped making payments for their three western New York casinos.
The tribe and the state are headed to arbitration in the dispute over compact terms.