Opinion

Cuomo’s bad bet

Gov. Cuomo is coming under fire following the disclosure that gambling interests have provided at least $2.4 million to his unofficial advocacy group, the Committee to Save New York.

That’s because the governor has become an enthusiastic advocate of the wholesale expansion of casino gambling in New York.

The donations are hardly the scandal that some are suggesting — Cuomo adamantly denies any linkage to his pro-gambling position — but they’re decidedly unhelpful to the governor. The committee is officially a nonprofit social-advocacy group rather than a lobbying outfit, and so doesn’t have to reveal its sources of income. But it definitely serves a useful purpose.

At the least, it’s an effective — indeed, necessary — counterweight to the well-funded special interests like Big Labor that have held Albany in a hammerlock for decades.

CSNY has been effective at raising cash: $17 million, mostly spent on campaign-style ads promoting Cuomo’s reform efforts.

Well-spent, we might add.

But the huge infusion of pro-casino cash — on the eve of Cuomo’s suddenly active embrace of a huge expansion of gambling — was sure to raise eyebrows.

According to published reports, CSNY received $2 million from the New York Gaming Association last December. It also got $400,000 more from Genting — the gambling giant that won the lucrative Aqueduct racino contract and which, until last week, appeared well-positioned for building a resort and convention center at the track.

Indeed, Genting is a co-founder of the New York Gaming Association.

None of this is inherently corrupt.

But the big bucks being spent — and the infinitely bigger bucks at stake — underscore the dangers of potential corruption implicit in legalized gambling. Which is why we’ve long opposed its expansion in New York — even as it now seems inevitable.

Moreover, the infusion of gambling dollars to CSNY — and its uncomfortably close proximity to Cuomo’s newfound enthusiasm for expanded gambling — can only undermine public confidence in the governor himself. Fairly or otherwise.

We believe the governor when he insists that no connection exists (though it’s a bit disturbing that administration officials reportedly steered gambling bucks to CSNY).

But perception matters.

Cuomo needs to proceed with great care.