GAMBLING

State Tries, Tries Again at Aqueduct

The State of New York is nothing if not persistent when it comes to adding slot machines at the Aqueduct racetrack.

And it is nothing if not slower than expected.

In what is now at least the eighth year of attempts to remake the Aqueduct in one form or another, the Paterson administration’s Division of Read More

How Does He Manage?

The Commercial Observer: Things seem to be looking up for SL Green. Just recently your stock went up.

Mr. Piccinich: You talk about the economic downturn, when we went into the single-digit range, and where we’ve climbed now—I see it as the same experience we had eight years ago, when Read More

Kangaroo Casino

In mid-2006, Karl O’Farrell, an Irish-born entrepreneur from Australia with a penchant for gambling, hatched a quixotic plan to take over and develop New York’s biggest horse-racing tracks. That plan was the root of the political maelstrom that now engulfs Governor Paterson’s selection of a team to build a casino at the Aqueduct Read More

Winning Aqueduct Bidder Loses a Partner

Aqueduct Entertainment Group, the winning bidder to develop a casino-type operation at the Queens Racetrack, is losing a member. The group today announced that Darryl Greene had dropped out of the team, losing his 0.6 percent stake in the bid.

This better explains how AEG, which is battling a whirlwind of negative attention given allegations Read More

Aqueduct Now a No Wynn Situation

Steve Wynn won’t be gambling on the Aqueduct Racetrack after all.

Today, Mr. Wynn pulled his proposal to develop a ”high-end clubby” slot machine parlor in Queens, just weeks before state leaders are expected to announce a licensee for the site.

It’s a surprising turn for the casino mogul. In August, Mr. Wynn sounded Read More

Vegas Off the A

It didn’t look like much, the racetrack in Queens. On Monday, the Aqueduct, whose angular Jetsons grandstand must have looked modern when it was built in 1959, hulked empty next to a parking lot, its asphalt crevices luxuriant with weeds. A lone seagull flew overhead, and aside from the distant roar of jets departing J.F.K. Read More

Delaware North Gets Nod to Develop Queens Racino; Community Groups Peeved

This just in: Governor Paterson’s office has finalized the selection of Delaware North to transform the beleaguered Queens Aqueduct into a racino (industry jargon for a destination that’s part-racetrack, part-casino).

"Today our administration will announce the selection of Delaware North to operate Video Lottery Terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack," said Governor Paterson in a statement. Read More