Gov. Cuomo rolled the dice on new casinos to boost the upstate economy, but New York City might be hitting the jackpot, too.
Although none of the five boroughs will get one of the voter-approved Las Vegas-style casinos for years, the revenue generated from the new gambling empires could bring more than $94 million to the Big Apple in school aid and property- tax relief once the casinos open in a couple of years.
The governor’s numbers-crunchers say casinos could rake in $430 million for the state annually, with $238 million of that earmarked for education.
“What it means is jobs for upstate New York,” said Cuomo said in a radio interview Wednesday.
“These are resort destinations that will bring hundred of millions of dollars of construction and stimulate an entire region. It’s a magnet to bring downstate traffic to upstate.”
Under the governor’s plan — approved by voters Tuesday with a 57 percent majority — the first four casinos will be built upstate, and a New York City casino could open in seven years.
The first casinos are targeted for the Albany area, the Catskills-Hudson Valley region and part of the Southern Tier, along the northern border of Pennsylvania.
Cuomo first pushed the amendment in his 2012 State of the State Address.