The three regions where the first casino licenses will be awarded are shown in this map from the New York Gaming Facility Location Board.

New York

New York passes over tribes for first commercial casino licenses

Thursday, December 18, 2014

The New York Gaming Facility Location Board recommended three finalists for the first commercial casino licenses in the state but tribes were not among them.

Out of 16 applicants, the board chose three in three regions: the Catskills, the Capital and the Eastern Southern Tier/Finger Lakes. Tribes were involved in projects in each of those regions -- either as the bidder or as a financial or management partner -- but lost out to non-Indian developers.

“I would have loved to have had Mohegan Sun in the Catskills before I left, but it wasn’t in the cards,” Mitchell Etess, the outgoing CEO of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, told The New London Day.

The Mohegan Tribe was hoping that the board would recommended the issuance of two licenses in the Catskills. The region is about 90 minutes north of New York City and has been the site of casino proposals for more than a decade.

In the Capital region, Hard Rock International, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, was passed over for another bidder. The facility would have been managed by Global Gaming Solutions, a subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.

In the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes Region, a project that included the Seneca Nation lost out. The tribe was involved solely as a manager of the proposed casino.

For that region, the board went with the $425 million Lago Resort & Casino in the town of Tyre. The Oneida Nation and nearby officials oppose the project because it sits right at the edge of the tribe's exclusivity zone.

The three winning bidders must complete the application process before the New York State Gaming Commission awards the licenses.