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Regulators Take Key Step to Add Casinos to Downstate NY

Decision on Churchill Downs Inc.'s bid for a Finger Lakes region casino got delayed.

New York state regulators delayed a decision on Churchill Downs' bid to acquire the del Lago Casino in the Finger Lakes region

New York state regulators delayed a decision on Churchill Downs' bid to acquire the del Lago Casino in the Finger Lakes region

del Lago Casino

New York regulators moved a step forward Oct. 3 with a process to site up to three new full-scale casinos in the downstate region, including what the gambling industry considers the most lucrative prize: New York City.

The future selection by the casino panel has the potential for broad implications for current gambling ventures, including Thoroughbred racing in the downstate area.

The New York State Gaming Commission on Monday tapped a former college president, a law school professor, and the head of a women's chamber of commerce group in New York City as three people, a who's who, which the gambling companies will be trying to convince in the months ahead to select their plans for Las Vegas-style casinos in downstate.

"I truly appreciate their service, their impartiality,'' said Brian O'Dwyer, chairman of the Gaming Commission. He said he stressed to each sighting location panel member to focus on all relevant data and information in making their future decisions that could not only make private companies more wealthy but also affect the communities that host the future casinos.

The three members selected are: Quenia A. Abreu, president and chief executive officer of the New York Women's Chamber of Commerce; Vicki L. Been, a professor at New York University School of Law and a former New York City deputy mayor for housing and economic development; and Stuart Rabinowitz, a former Hofstra University president, who served on a previous panel that selected casino locations in the upstate region.

By law, the commission needed to appoint a majority of the siting panel by Oct. 4. The siting panel still has two more seats that have to be filled at some point. A final decision on locations for the three available downstate licenses is not expected until sometime in 2023 "at the earliest,'' according to a new website—nycasinos.ny.gov—the state unveiled Monday.

Scene - CD - 043022
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Spires of Churchill Downs

The Gaming Commission's board also punted whether to approve a bid by Churchill Downs Inc. to purchase a company whose holdings include a large casino in the Finger Lakes region of upstate Oct. 3.

O'Dwyer gave no reason for the decision to push over the Churchill matter until the board's next meeting in November.

The authorization by the New York State Gaming Commission board would have paved the way for the Kentucky-based Churchill Downs to compete against Delaware North-owned Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack, located just 27 miles away from Churchill's new property at del Lago Resorts & Casino.

In February, Churchill announced it signed a $2.485 billion definitive purchase agreement to obtain "substantially all" of the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, the owners of del Lago in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, along with a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Sioux Falls, Iowa; Colonial Downs in Virginia; and, other current and future wagering properties in Virginia.

In a filing earlier this year with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Churchill said the del Lago facility—with 1,700 slots, 80 table games in 96,000 square feet, as well as 205 hotel rooms, and a 2,400-seat entertainment hall—would be the single largest of the properties it is acquiring from Peninsula Pacific Entertainment. Churchill noted it had previously disclosed to federal regulators that it was planning to use proceeds from a pending sale of land near Calder Casino to "structure aspects of this acquisition" of nearly all of the assets of Peninsula Pacific.

Besides its Kentucky racing operation, Churchill Downs runs the TwinSpires.com advance deposit waging company and has casino holdings in nine states.

twinspires.com signage on the starting gate
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

Churchill earlier this year said it expected the deal, including required governmental approvals, to be wrapped up by the end of 2022.

The board also put off until sometime in the future consideration of new rules governing the interactive fantasy sports betting industry.

The commissioners did give the final okay to a rule change removing the requirement that people applying to be a jockey agent must have been previously licensed and served as an exercise person, apprentice jockey, jockey, assistant trainer, or trainer in New York or elsewhere for at least one year. The new rule allows stewards or commission designees to decide whether someone can be a jockey agent based on his or her experience and background.