Sands’ NYC Casino Bid Enlists Former New York Gov. Paterson

There is a strong movement towards a casino being developed and ultimately built in New York City.

Former New York Gov. David Paterson, who was in office as a Democrat from 2008-2010, latched on with Las Vegas Sands to be at the forefront of this move towards a New York City casino.

According to NBC New York, voters in the state have already approved up to three casinos for the largest city in the nation. However, the New York state law in place right now recites that the earliest the casinos can be authorized comes in 2023 at the very earliest.

Listed as a senior vice president with Las Vegas Sands (a developer and operator that features luxury hotels, gaming, retail, dining and entertainment options), Paterson, 65, told NBC New York that there is no reasons to wait and lawmakers should lift the law to move this process along.

"Is it going to happen in 2023 or 2020? Why not start three years earlier?" Paterson told NBC New York. "This is really a tremendous opportunity to create jobs in New York."

Importance of a New York City Casino

Between the location of New York City for a casino and the partnership with Las Vegas Sands, this could be a gigantic deal for everyone involved. Las Vegas Sands has 11 properties in the country including six in Macau, China, four in Las Vegas, Nevada and Singapore.

This won’t be an easy task for Paterson and the Las Vegas Sands company as the New York City market will see a ton of competition for this possible casino. Another big name company that has put a proposal in for making their facilities into full casinos is MGM and Genting Group which has slots casinos in place in Queens and Yonkers.

Four of the seven casino licenses that were approved in 2013 by New York state voters are in the upstate area while three in the downstate area with Long Island being involved.

On top of taxes, casino operators in the downstate area will have to pay a license fee estimated at $500 million per casino. Also, if in the market prior to the 2023 approval date, the casinos in the actual city area would be asked to shell out money as an early entry fee to the casinos upstate.

“The whole idea of bringing thousands of jobs into the state of New York, enticing people to stay rather than leave, enticing other people to move here and doing it through the entertainment industry that is gaming is an exciting new challenge for me,” Paterson told the New York Post. “Last month’s meeting with state lawmakers ended without any vote on a proposal to hurry up the process for licensing casinos in New York City."

Current Governor Andrew Cuomo has been very mum about the casino plans and bids on licenses.

"I am very skeptical about some casino deal put together by casino operators promising billions of dollars and everybody's happy," Cuomo told AP News in March.

Now is the waiting period as the casino plans evolve in a state where the gaming movement has had some fits and starts. Regardless, having the Las Vegas Sands as part of a New York City casino would be a gigantic move for the casino landscape.

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