New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) has reportedly dismissed any suggestion he may support a revised tax deal for the Del Lago Resort and Casino by declaring that the state should not ‘get into the business of bailing out private concerns’.
According to a Wednesday report from NewYorkUpstate.com, Cuomo’s comment came after Tom Wilmot, Co-Chairman for the Del Lago Resort and Casino, had asked lawmakers for help as a result of overall first-year revenues for the Seneca County venue being 44% lower than expected at only $147 million.
“The upstate gaming casinos are private concerns,” 60-year-old Cuomo purportedly told reporters in Albany yesterday. “They bid, they made an investment and some of them will say they are not doing as well as they hoped or would have expected. But they’re private concerns and I don’t want to get into the business of bailing out private concerns.”
The Democrat’s declaration reportedly followed Wilmot’s request that tax breaks for the Del Lago Resort and Casino amounting to approximately $14 million be included in the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on Sunday.
The $440 million Del Lago Resort and Casino was reportedly the first of four giant New York commercial casinos alongside Rivers Casino and Resort Schenectady, Tioga Downs Casino Resort and Resorts World Catskills to open after voters approved a 2013 referendum altering the state’s constitution. However, the 94,000 sq ft facility near the town of Tyre and between the cities of Syracuse and Rochester purportedly sits close to numerous tribal rivals such as the Oneida Indian Nation’s Yellow Brick Road Casino that pay lower tax rates than their commercial counterparts.
Despite acknowledging that the four new commercial casinos in New York had created jobs and brought economic development and increased tax revenues to many upstate communities, Cuomo reportedly moreover declared that he was not currently ‘sympathetic’ to any appeals for assistance.
“We did casino gaming to create facilities, generate economic development [and] create jobs and it has done that,” Cuomo reportedly proclaimed. “To the extent you have a casino saying ‘Well, you know what? I’m not meeting my expectations. I should get help from the state’, I’m not sympathetic to that.”