Upstate casinos eye tax break to compete with NYC-area rival

Gaming venue in Orange County would keep gamblers from going north, they contend

From left: Michael Treanor and Nevele Casino rendering
From left: Michael Treanor and Nevele Casino rendering

At least three casino developers are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax breaks for upstate gaming venues, in part because the incentives will help them compete with a casino project that would be located about 45 minutes from New York City.

Michael Treanor, CEO of Nevele, told Capital New York that his company’s $640 million casino in Ulster County’s Ellensville would have a harder time attracting customers if the state grants a license to a casino in Orange County. Nevele is seeking $100 million in tax breaks over 15 years, according to the news site.

“We have to fight much harder in order to get people to come up to the Nevele,” Treanor told Capital New York. “If you want to put a casino within an hour or 45 minutes of New York City — they’ll be able to print money in Orange County.”

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

There are six bids to build casinos in Orange County, the news site reported.

The prospect of an Orange County casino has made financing less certain for casinos further north, Scott Samuelson, chairman of the Sullivan County legislature, told the site. Empire Resorts and Mohegan Sun each have a gaming project in the pipeline for Sullivan County. [Capital NY]Tom DiChristopher