No licenses will be awarded in areas near current Indian-run casinos, pursuant to tribal exclusivity agreements made with those tribes.Additional licenses beyond seven will require a constitutional amendment. Following that time, the New York State Legislature may permit the Gaming Commission to offer three additional licenses. There is a 7-year lock-out period during which no new additional casinos licenses may be granted in the State.Each license will last for 10 years and the licensee must commence gaming activities within 24 months after receiving the license.The Gaming Commission will establish the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board (the “Board”), a five member panel of independent financial and economic experts with a designated chairperson, to review applications and determine the license winners.The New York State Gaming Commission (the “Gaming Commission”) is tasked with licensing four gaming facilities, one in each of the regions shown below, with a fourth license up for grabs in any of the three regions, in addition to the two video gaming facilities that will be located in Long Island: Governor Cuomo expects that the Board will be established shortly, a request for proposals will be issued in March, the bids will be due in June and the locations and winners of the licenses will be announced in early fall. The Gaming Facility Location Board was originally scheduled to be appointed by the end of January, but the members have not been appointed at the time of this Alert. 5, 2013, and the Act became effective on Jan. A related amendment to the State constitution authorizing non-tribal casinos was approved by voters on Nov.

So that casino and hotel developers and operators bidding for these lucrative licenses are not just spinning the roulette wheel during the highly competitive application and approval process, we summarize key aspects of the new law and the licensing process below.Īs we discussed previously, Governor Cuomo signed the New York Gaming Economic Development Act of 2013 (the “Act”) (links: here and here) into law on July 30, 2013, authorizing the licensing and development of four new casino resorts in the Catskills, near Albany and along the New York/Pennsylvania border, plus two new video gaming facilities on Long Island. You’ll need more than a good poker face and a lucky roll of the dice to win one of the four new gaming licenses that became available in New York State in January 2014.

Casinos upstate new york