“I am very skeptical about some casino deal put together by casino operators promising billions of dollars and everybody is happy,” Governor Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY: The state in 2014 awarded casinos to four upstate locations, which have struggled to meet revenue projections since they’ve opened.

As part of the deal, which was crucial for all or most of them to obtain financing, the state agreed to a moratorium on any further casino licenses being given until 2023.

The state has three licenses left that it can hand out under the terms of a 2013 law, and all three would be—given the downstate population density and the upstate gambling saturation—centered in and around New York City.

Andrew Cuomo said the state in 2014 went through a rigorous process to competitively bid out the four upstate casino licenses and that he isn’t about to change that for the remaining three licenses left for the future.

In 2013, Andrew Cuomo had a major fight with racetracks and racino operators over the looming awarding of licenses for the Las Vegas-style casinos.

The racinos argued that they were best positioned to transition quickly into full casinos and should be awarded the casino licenses without a competitive bidding process.

On Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo again rejected that idea being put forward now by the owners of the Aqueduct and Yonkers racinos.

Andrew Cuomo added that he has had zero discussions in ongoing budget talks with any of the legislative leaders about a downstate casino plan