Gov. Cuomo has a curious way of letting New Yorkers decide an issue: If the voters disapprove an expansion of full-scale casino gambling at the polls this November, he’s going to expand it anyway.
That’s the upshot of the governor’s latest bid for seven new casinos. Under legislation he’s backing, four casinos would be approved upstate. They would operate exclusively for seven years before the remaining three are sited and approved.
But before any of this can happen, New Yorkers would have to approve a constitutional amendment to allow casinos here. The racetrack racinos — which recognize the new casinos as new competition — are fighting the deal. They threaten to mobilize voters against any casino vote.
But the governor’s got that bet covered. If the voters reject his constitutional amendment, he’ll authorize the state Lottery Division to sign up new agents for thousands of video-lottery terminals upstate and in the outer boroughs. In other words, more direct competition for the racinos.
And more gambling in New York, no matter how New Yorkers vote.
We’ve always been leery about Albany’s reliance on gambling either as a source of jobs or tax revenue. We believe, as apparently most New Yorkers believe, that the state would be better served by a business climate that encourages investment and innovation instead of one that seems increasingly to rely on lucrative, government-backed gambling oligopolies.
It’s good that New Yorkers will get to vote on gambling this November. How much better it would be if the vote might actually count for something.