<!--Don Glynn--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Don Glynn</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com">don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
A Las Vegas-based management company has been awarded a contract to operate a lucrative casino at Aqueduct Race Track in New York City.
Initially, Delaware North, a Buffalo company, had been considered the front-runner in the bidding for the 30-year contract. That deal collapsed, however, after Delaware North couldn’t raise the $370 million payment for exclusive rights to build the gambling hall.
Instead, the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, an eight-member partnership that includes gaming executive Larry Woolf’s Navegante Group, was selected over competing bids from four other groups: MGM Mirage, Harrah’s Entertainment, Penn National Gaming and Hard Rock Entertainment, which is operated by a Indian tribe in Florida.
Officials said the new casino’s 4,500 video lottery terminals could help offset New York’s $7.4 billion budget gap. It is estimated the gambling terminals could generate upwards of $1 million per day in revenue.
A spokesman for AEG said the Navegante Group also operates casinos at The Sahara in Las Vegas, Reno’s Grand Sierra and three properties in Elko, Nev. At present, a memorandum of understanding is being negotiated with New York State Lottery officials and those meetings will take about two months. The casino is expected to open by September.
The overall process is hardly completed, officials are quick to note. Some casino industry analysts caution that lawsuits may challenge the entire selection process.
In fact, some of the unsuccessful bidders have made it clear through their press releases that they are disappointed in the decision announced by Gov. Paterson.
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IN THE PARK: State budget cuts affect taxpayers many ways but closing parks and related facilities must make taxpayers a little sore about the whole fiscal mess.
After all, the parks are touted as affordable family fun.
They’re also perceived as healthful and safe places to spend a few restful hours or maybe even the entire weekend.
“Our parkland shelters countless species of plants and animals, provides irreplaceable vistas and ecosystems and incredible historical and cultural resources,” State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash testified during an Albany meeting last week.
She noted that in 2009 the statewide parks system hosted nearly 56 million visitors, up some 1.9 million visitors over the previous year. The cabins and campsites within those parks were booked more nights than any other year in the agency’s history.
As for the economic benefit, they generate upwards of $85 million in revenues through user fees, concession contracts and other sources that account for about 40 percent of the statewide park department budget.
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THE INSIDE RAIL: Warren Buffett whose vast stock holdings include The Buffalo News surprised a lot of people with his recent plan to purchase the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad.
Don Phillips, a columnist for Trains magazine, blamed the unwarranted speculation on “media ignorance.”
The writer notes the major challenge now is for railroads to expand capacity to handle the crush of freight when the current recession ends.
Buffett also is obviously aware that railroads have become “the heroes of the environmental movement” with their low emissions and increased efficiency per ton-mile.
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ON THE ROAD: U.S. Senator Charles Schumer,D-NY, has been center stage in grabbing headlines — what he does best — over the efforts of Michael and Erin Lancer, West Seneca, to bring their adopted son Geoffrey home from poverty-stricken Haiti.
When Schumer wraps up his missionary work abroad, maybe he could focus on the domestic front too. It seems like only yesterday when he promised to look into the reason that gas prices in the Buffalo-Niagara area are higher than anywhere else in the nation.
According to AAA, the national average price for regular unleaded last week was $2.66. In this area, it’s inching around $2.95.
