Located in the Southern Tier of New York State, the Tioga Downs racino has applied for an expansion to convert the facility into a fully-functioning Las Vegas-style casino. The proposal was submitted on Thursday and included $145 million in updates and is one of at least two applications expected to be submitted to state gambling regulators.

Taking up fifty-five boxes of paper, the application for Tioga Downs, a racino located west of Binghamton got in just a few days before the Monday deadline. In the bid, Tioga Downs would like to spend $145 million to create a hotel, add table games, add 200 more electronic gambling games, two new restaurants as well as expand the gambling hall and upgrade the connected golf course.

Tom Osiecki, the President of the American Racing and Entertainment LLC, the parent group behind Tioga Downs, stated that the new proposal would create more jobs, revenues and tourism in the Southern Tier of the state.

Just last year the Tioga Downs had an application rejected by the state board when four casino licenses were available. Only three proposals were approved, one in Schenectady, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes area. After officials of the Southern Tier spoke out about being left out, Governor Andrew Cuomo called for the fourth license to be made available, with bidding reopened.

Jeff Gural is the owner of Tioga Downs and stated that he took the critique of his last proposal and made changes before preparing the new proposal. The revisions included on the new option are a second restaurant added, a larger casino area and changes to financing. Gural stated that if licensing was approved, the facility could be expanded by the middle of 2016.