Ten percent of a $50 million fee paid by del Lago Resort & Casino on Wednesday will be shared by the town of Tyre and Seneca County.
The payment was submitted to the New York State Gaming Commission for del Lago’s casino license. In December, state gambling regulators awarded the facility’s developers, Penninsula Pacific and Wilmorite, with a gaming license. Lago was one of three casinos granted full casino licenses by the gaming commission in December along with the Montreign Resort Casino at Adelaar and Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady. Most of the money will be kept by the state, but a portion of the $50 million will be distributed to municipalities in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions.
Five million will be shared by Seneca County and Tyre. Other counties in the gaming region including Broome, Schuyler, Chemung, Wayne, Tioga and Tompkins will be paid an additional $5 million. del Lago Co-Chairman Tom Wilmot Sr. said, “While we are excited about making this license fee payment, we are even more excited about the progress we are making building what will soon be the best resort and casino in all of upstate New York,” according to the Auburn Citizen. Wilmot added, “Thanks to the mild winter weather and a great local workforce, construction of del Lago is proceeding ahead of schedule. We are regularly increasing the number of employees working on building del Lago and passersby can see the structure really taking shape.”
Last Thursday, developers announced a name change for the Tyre, Seneca County project currently under construction off exit 41 of the New York State Thruway. The $425 million development’s previous name associated with the project only required a slight modification to the facility’s logo.
Developers of Lago Resort & Casino expect 1,800 construction jobs to be created by the project and match that amount in permanent jobs once it opens. To date, more than two-thirds of the 3,000 employment inquiries Lago has received have come from Seneca County residents.
In January, Wilmot, Brent Stevens, and Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle, as well as labor and business leaders from Finger Lakes, local residents, and more than 350 Tyre and Seneca County officials, attended a beam-signing ceremony at the future site of the facility.
February 2017 is the target date for del Lago’s opening.