Tioga and Vernon Downs owner Jeff Gural expressed his disgust with the New York Gaming Facility Location Board's recommended sites for new commercial casino licenses in the state following today's meeting while suggesting that "they probably put Vernon Down out of business."
Gural's casino bid for Tioga Downs in the Eastern Southern Tier and Finger Lakes Region was not chosen and he suggested to the Capital New York that the future of Vernon Downs could be in trouble with a casino license being considered about 80 miles away at Lago Resort and Casino.
“It will hurt me at Vernon. But, I don't give a sh*t about me, I’m wealthy,” Gural was quoted as saying in the Capital New York article. “But it certainly screwed the people who live in the Southern Tier. There are five casinos where Lago is and now there are no casinos in the Southern Tier. That's—that’s shocking!
“I think the Southern Tier just got wiped out economically," he continued. "Poor people, they’re going to have no jobs. Take a ride around the Southern Tier and see what it looks like. It’s about as depressed an area as there is and when you had a chance to help these people, with the fracking and the casino, they give them a doubleheader. It’s just sickening. I feel bad for the people. Don’t worry about Jeff Gural, I’m fine.”
The three destination gaming resorts that will be considered for commercial casino licenses by the New York State Gaming Commission are the Lago Resort and Casino in the Eastern Southern Tier/Finger Lakes Region, Montreign Resort Casino in the Catskills/Hudson Valley Region, and Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor in the Capital Region.
To read Gural's comments in the Capital New York, click here.
(With files from Capital New York)