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NYC Likely To Get A Casino, Bloomberg Doesn't Object
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 19, 2011
Modified Sep 19, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 19, 2011
Modified Sep 19, 2011
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Now that unemployment and poverty rates are sky high, why not open a few casinos? The Post reports that both parties agree: legalized gambling should happen. It'll give people a chance to
discover a new rock-bottom
get back on their feet, inject some cash into the state's austere budget, and finally allow us to knock Native Americans out of the one position of power that they currently hold. Everybody wins!
So airtight is Governor Cuomo's plan to approve "Las Vegas-style casinos" everywhere—including in New York City—that he's even convinced Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to go back on his assurance that he wouldn't allow them in the Apple. Silver tells the paper that he would allow for a casino at the Aquaduct Racetrack in Queens. When asked about it today, Mayor Bloomberg said that while he wasn't a gambling man, "I suppose you might have it here." Not that he'll be around to care. And surely developers, the commercial real-estate lobby, casino owners and the Governor will stop at just one.
Republicans killed a casino bill back in 1997, but Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos "is supportive of a constitutional amendment that will let the people of New York decide." Such an amendment would pass the state legislature next year, and hit the ballot in 2013. This gives you plenty of time to brush up on your card counting and fetal position- weeping.
Just last week, the Massachusetts House passed a bill that would plop a casino down on the MA/NY state line, and if it passes the Senate, will provide those revenue streams that Cuomo tells us we're losing to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. If there's anything to learn from legalizing gambling, it's that it always works. Save your cigarette money for the slots!
Tagged
casinos
connecticut
dean skelos
gambling
governor cuomo
indian reservations
legalized gambling
Massachusetts
new jersey
pennsylvania
sheldon silver
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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