Tioga Downs Casino & Racing in Nichols, owned by businessman Jeff Gural, seems to be the only bidder interested in launching a fully-fledged casino in New York’s Southern Tier region after the application deadline passed at 4 pm on July 6.
A special siting board for the New York State Gaming Commission will now have to review Mr. Gural’s plan to turn his property into a full-scale gambling venue and to decide whether his proposal should be given the nod. If approved, Tioga Downs will be the fourth upstate casino.
Late last year, the New York Gaming Facility Location Board backed three proposals for the construction of gambling venues on the territory of the state – Montreign Resort Casino, Lago Resort & Casino, and Rivers Casino & Resort. In fact, Lago Resort & Casino has been considered the bidder for the Southern Tier region. However, legislators and community members claimed that the potential property is not really in the area.
Due to the backlash, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a new bidding process to be opened and applications for Southern Tier to be submitted.
Up until Sunday, it was believed that there will be two casino proposals for the area in question. However, Albany businessman Jeffrey Hyman announced that he would drop his plan for the construction of a casino in the city of Binghamton. He said the site for his venue was not included in the newly released maps by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Due to this, investors drew their support for the project and this is why Mr. Hyman decided that he, too, should give up on the idea.
As mentioned above, a special siting board for the New York State Gaming Commission is to consider Mr. Gural’s proposal and to decide whether it is content with what the businessman is offering. Tioga Downs was among the losing bidders in last year’s application process.
However, after the bid for the regional casino license was re-opened, Mr. Gural presented the state gaming regulator with a revised plan, in which Tioga Downs’ price was included, as well as other renovation-related costs. It is also important to note that this time the proposal is to be partly financed by Morgan Stanley and more money will be spent on it.
Mr. Gural has previously commented that he would like to launch a fully-fledged casino that would attract visitors not only from the region and New York, but also from neighboring states.
