Ny Attorney General Looking Into Casino Bidding Process

Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural is among anyone who has been approached by state investigators asking questions about ny’s casino licensing process.
The nyc state attorney general’s office has apparently exposed an inquiry into exactly how the 3 sites that were suggested by the Gaming Facility Location Board had been selected, and whether the putting in a bid process all together ended up being fair.
According to different reports, investigators for brand New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have actually met with some of the bidders who were part of the casino selection procedure, apparently to research whether conflicts of interest or other problems were present during the selection.
According up to a report by Central New York Media, the three bidders that are winning had ties to Taft, Stettinius & Hollister.
That firm merged with law practice Shefsky & Froelich final 12 months, after which it became the lead gambling consultant for the positioning board. In total, five of the 16 casino bids mentioned ties to the businesses as a conflict that is potential of.
Gural States Investigators Approached Him About Process
According to Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural, he has spoken to investigators concerning the putting in a bid process. But though Gural has previously reported about the tier that is southern passed over and it has lobbied for his proposed casino to get a second look, he says he was not trying to allege any illegal activity within the process.
‘I didn’t reach out to the AG,’ Gural said. ‘It had not been my intent to grumble.’
Gural stated that while he told investigators that he didn’t believe any laws was indeed broken during the putting in a bid process, he did have questions concerning the potential conflict of great interest triggered by a fantastic bidder’s connections compared to that casino consulting firm, something he feels may not have been fair.
James Featherstonhaugh, an Albany lobbyist who worked with two bidders that are losing also said that state investigators had contacted his clients in recent days. Nonetheless, he offered comments that were even softer than those of Gural, saying that he wasn’t accusing the location board of any impropriety while he was disappointed in the results.
‘We thought that the process ended up being managed fairly and expertly,’ Featherstonhaugh told the New York Times. ‘We want we had won. But we didn’t.’
Location Board Says Process Was Fair and Clear
According to location board spokesperson Lee Park, Taft’s role in the act was only to compile submitted materials into more easily comparable summaries that board members might use.
‘Taft had no direct input into decision-making of the board members,’ Park stated month that is last.
In a statement dilemmas Monday, Park reiterated that the method was fair and followed the principles established by New York’s casino legislation.
‘The casino sitting process strictly followed the provisions of the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act, which called for unprecedented transparency,’ Park said. ‘All material regarding the process, including legally required disclosures of potential conflicts of interest, are available on our web site for anybody to examine.’
The investigation comes since the location board is preparing to provide a report that is final the three sites chosen for casinos on Friday. On that day, the board normally likely to think about a formal request for allowing new proposals from the Southern Tier region, possibly allowing a fourth unused casino license to be awarded to a project there.
The three recommended casino projects in upstate New York include Montreign Resort and Casino in Thompson (located in the Catskills), Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady, and Lago Resort Casino in Tyre, near the Finger Lakes at the moment.
Revel Sold To Florida Billionaire Straub For $82 Million
Straight Back through the dead: Glenn Straub finally gets his hands in the shuttered Revel casino resort, which he plans to show into a casino-cum-center devoted to life extension science. (Image: wsj.com)
Sold, to the eccentric Florida billionaire in the front row: one gigantic, doomed casino resort that leaks $2 million per week. Stunning views associated with the beach.
Yes, after months of tortuous legal wrangling, home developer Glenn Straub has finally got his mitts on the stricken Revel Casino Resort in Atlantic City. He will pay $82 million for the building, a fraction of the $2.4 billion it cost to build.
His plans? Well, Revel will NOT become an elite university where the brightest minds on earth can wander up and down the boardwalk ruminating on solutions to international dilemmas, such as ‘famine, cancer and nuclear waste storage space,’ as Straub previously proposed.
Instead, it will become some type of weird center specialized in the pursuit of eternal youth, or ‘life-extension science,’ to make use of the preferred terminology. We imagine that is very big in Florida.
Oh, and a casino.
Life Extension for Revel
Yes, despite, previous statements that he dislikes ab muscles idea of Atlantic City as being a casino town and that he would feel uncomfortable about profiting from gambling (although, offered Revel’s history, there would appear to be little chance of that), Straub has tantalizingly revealed that the failed casino property will reopen as a casino. Albeit a strange one. After all, as he explained to Bloomberg this week: ‘It’s a shame not to have some entertainment.’
‘ I think we could help a lot of people,’ added Straub of Revel’s forthcoming life-extension facilities. ‘We’ll offer you a of knowledge and maybe expand your life. https://casino-bonus-free-money.com/titanic-slot/ week’
A factor that could have been instrumental in Straub compromising his convictions about casinos could be the crippling power bill that’s tagged onto Revel. While Straub had been the first ‘stalking horse’ in Revel’s bankruptcy auction, establishing the base bid at $90 million, the auction ended up being ultimately won by the Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, by having a bid of $110 million.
Energy Bills from Hell
But Brookfield balked and bolted whenever it saw the energy that is annual of $36 million. In comparison, the Borgata, which has twice as numerous hotel spaces and a bigger casino floor, paid $11.7 million year that is last energy costs.
The property gets its power from an adjacent plant, owned by ACR Partners LLC, that was built specifically for that function and with Revel is its sole customer. Revel AC Inc started building the power plant when work began on the home, in 2008.
When the company went out of money, however, the plant was taken over by ACR, which demanded a 15 percent return on its equity within the first five years and 18 % after that. Revel’s obligations to ACR constitute equity payments totaling $20.1 million annually, plus $4 million for operations and maintenance.
Resorts Casino Resort Joins New Jersey Online Gambling Fray
Resorts will become the casino that is fifth in Atlantic City to open an on line gambling site in the state of the latest Jersey. (Image: Donald Kravitz/Getty Photos)
Resorts Casino Hotel may rank last among the remaining Atlantic City casinos in terms of revenue, but that is not stopping them from jumping right into the online gambling world.
This week, Resorts becomes the fifth Atlantic City casino company to offer online gambling in their state of the latest Jersey. With a little luck, they may even be joined by a really powerful partner into the days or months in the future.
Resorts will end their five-day evaluating duration on Wednesday, the second of two full times of procedure that follow three partial days of gaming.
This means the casino’s online gambling sites will be totally operational on Thursday, just per week Resorts received their waiver that is transactional from nj-new Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
Resorts Boasts Range that is wide of Games, No Poker at Launch
‘As New Jersey’s first casino destination, Resorts is committed to delivering the best-in-class online video gaming experience in the Garden State by partnering with gaming leaders, including SNG Interactive, which houses Sportech and NYX Gaming Group,’ said Mark Giannantonio, CEO and president of Resorts Casino resort.
‘With SNG’s flexible gaming solutions and exclusive game content, we are excited to introduce Europe’s industry-leading casino slots and dining table games towards the United States market for the best online user experience.’
Resorts joins the Borgata, Golden Nugget, Tropicana and Caesars Entertainment in offering online casinos in New Jersey. Right now, only the Borgata (partnered with partypoker) and Caesars (with 888 Holdings) offer online poker.
That’s not a thing that Resorts can boast appropriate out from the gate. However, they truly are likely to enter the world wide web poker landscape sooner rather than later on. Resorts has a partnership that is existing with all the Rational Group, the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt that is now owned by Amaya Gaming.
While Amaya’s certification application is delayed, there has been signs that the business could gain a fresh Jersey license quickly, which would probably make Resorts a solid competitor in the internet poker sphere.
PokerStars, Complete Tilt Could Provide Games if Licensed
‘Resorts has built an exclusive relationship with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, two of the very popular and powerful online gaming brands in the world,’ reads an FAQ page for Resorts. ‘This means Resorts will be providing brand New Jersey with the best casino that is online poker web sites with the industry’s most competitive products.’
For now, though, the focus will be on providing casino items. According to Resorts, their site will ‘feature the selection that is largest of casino slots and dining table games in hawaii of New Jersey in addition to exclusive titles and highly coveted content that are unavailable elsewhere.’
Resorts Casino Hotel was the casino that is first in Atlantic City, opening in 1978. Resorts was a heavy contributor to the campaign to legalize gambling in brand New Jersey, supporting the referendum on the issue that ended up being passed by state voters in 1976.
Resorts are going to be entering a gambling that is online in New Jersey that has been growing in recent months. In January, the state’s online gambling sites brought in $11.6 million, up over 22 per cent when compared to the same month year that is last.
The sole part of hawaii’s Internet gambling framework that seems to be struggling is online poker, which could receive a major boost if PokerStars is allowed to start operations in partnership with Resorts.