New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that proposed accelerating the deadline for downstate casino license applications. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

New York’s governor vetoed a bill that would accelerate the issuance of three downstate casino licenses.

Explaining her decision, Kathy Hochul said that changing the timeline would “likely have the impact of helping certain bidders and hurting others.” She isn’t willing to back a bill which would alter the rules during the process.

New York City casino licenses are a long time coming; Governor Hochul approved their issuance in the 2022 state budget. The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) intends to award licenses before the end of 2025. Lawmakers introduced a bill in June to speed up the process.

legislation proposed requiring all applicants to submit proposals by August 2024

The legislation proposed requiring all applicants to submit proposals by August 2024 even if they didn’t have the relevant zoning approvals.

Long-time gambling expansion advocates Assemblyman Gary Pretlow and Senator Joseph Addabbo introduced the timeline bill, saying the state’s regulator should weed out suboptimal bids sooner rather than later.

Talking about projects struggling to get land zoning approvals, Senator Addabbo said, “If you can’t figure out the land use issues in two years, maybe a casino shouldn’t be there.”

With the bill’s failure, interested parties have until June 27, 2025 to submit their applications.