Three upstate casinos get NY licenses

The wait is over for three upstate NY casino projects that were finally given the official green light from state gambling regulators. Several proposals for casinos in Orange County also were turned down.

The Gaming Commission is expected to vote at a meeting Monday on awarding state casino licenses to the Montreign Resort Casino, at the site of the former Concord resort in Sullivan County town of Thompson, as well as the Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady and Lago Resort and Casino in the Finger Lakes town of Tyre.

The Rivers Casino is a joint venture between Rotterdam developer the Galesi Group and operator Rush Street Gaming of Chicago. They expect to be operating within the next two years.

A fourth casino, Tioga Downs in Nichols, was picked for a full casino license this fall.

It has been a year since the licensees were named and the wait has been frustrating.

It has now been more than a year since the Gaming Commission’s site-selection board recommended the three projects for licensure, subject to background checks of the companies and their principals.

The Schenectady casino will be in the downtown area, while the Tyre casino would be just off the state Thruway at Exit 41 on the northern tip of the Finger Lakes.

The state Legislature in 2013 approved up to four casinos to be built in upstate NY, and voters in 2013 agreed to a change in the state Constitution to allow for seven privately owned casinos in NY. It says total state-required payments from the track and casino total 79% of revenues, compared with the proposed 37% that Lago will pay on slot revenues and 10% on table games. Opponents of the Lago Casino in Seneca County had hoped the commission would hold off because they have a case against the project still moving through the courts.