SL Green, Penn National disqualified from Aqueduct bidding

From left: SL Green’s Marc Holliday and Penn’s Peter Carlino

Just one bidder is left vying to develop and operate the Queens Aqueduct racino project after proposals by SL Green and Penn National Gaming were disqualified yesterday for not conforming with the requirements of the competition, Crain’s reported. A late entry by Genting New York, part of a Malaysian investment firm that operates foreign casinos, is now the de-facto front-runner for the lucrative contract. If state Lottery officials do not approve the Genting application, it could force an already controversial and long-delayed project into its sixth round of requests for proposals as neither SL Green nor Penn National will be eligible for reconsideration. Former bidders Delaware North and Empire City/Yonkers Raceway pulled out of the competition because they did not want to comply with the requirements of the state’s most recent RFP, but Lottery officials said yesterday that neither SL Green nor Penn National came close to following the rules, either. Following the rejection, a spokesperson for SL Green called the Lottery’s application was “totally unreasonable.” [Crain’s]