ALBANY – Gov. Paterson promised today to finally leave the starting gate and pick a vendor “in the next week or so” to bring a long-planned lottery parlor to Aqueduct Race Track.
Paterson made the remarks as the state neared a critical deadline that could cost it the $200 million up-front payment that the governor and lawmakers have already counted on to balance the current year’s budget.
“If the two other leaders cannot come to a conclusion and a decision about which groups should be the sponsoring organization, then I think I’ll be forced, as I did last year, to announce my group,” Paterson told reporters during a New Year’s open house at the Executive Mansion.
“What I’m going to do probably in the next week or so is pick one myself,” Paterson said.
Paterson has been promising to select a casino operator since the summer, when he and legislative leaders began bickering over the plan and haggling with bidders to sweeten the pot.
Pressure to act increased after the New York Racing Association, which operates Aqueduct and the state’s two other thoroughbred horse tracks, said the state’s in action would force it to cancel the Belmont Stakes in June.
NYRA hopes to collect as much as $1 million daily from the 4,500 lottery terminals planned for Aqueduct. Also, a bidder must be chosen within days if Paterson hopes to negotiate a contract before the state’s fiscal year ends March 31, insiders say.
If not, the $200 million up-front payment would have to be added to the existing $500 million hole in the state budget. So far three governors have failed to bring the project to fruition since 2001, when the Legislature first authorized the Aqueduct “racino” under Gov. George Pataki.
Five bidders remain, after Las Vegas executive Steve Wynn reportedly tired for the drawn-out process. Those remaining include: Aqueduct Entertainment Group, Delaware North, MGM Mirage, Penn National Gaming and SL Green, which is in a partnership with the Hard Rock chain.