Why is this man smiling?

Loveman fluffyScarcely had Penn National Gaming and Cordish Gaming decided to bury their differences and work together when their party was crashed. Who else could it be but ubiquitous Caesars Entertainment? The company has written a check for $1 million (refundable) and gotten into the hunt. Caesars has identified a 120-acre site next to the Metro-North Railroad station in Harriman, near the Penn-Cordish site, putting it within 50 miles of Manhattan. It must be chagrining not just for relative newcomers like Penn and Cordish, but especially for all the resort owners who have been pining for a casino for years, only to be carpetbagged on the day before applications were due. They’ll be doubly chagrined since the  ostensible aim of casino expansion was to help the upstate economy, and here’s Caesars sitting athwart one of the main routes to New York City, poised to suck all the oxygen out of the room.

Although would-be Albany casino developer David Flaum seemingly ought to be chagrined, it’s a coup for him: He owns the land and would lease it to Caesars. (A smart fellow with an eye to the main chance, this Flaum.) Since the ink on the letter of intent is barely dry, Caesars has no more than vague generalities to offer about what the project will entail … not just gambling blah blah retail blah blah restaurants blah blah an integrated-resort destination blah blah. In competitions such as this, those who have tend to get, so it must irk Caesars’ anticipated 15 competitors to be thrown so far into the shade by this late-breaking development. It’s one that makes you wonder about the depth of the company’s ongoing commitment to Atlantic City. The Caesars instinct, as usual, is to be in as many markets as possible, and if there’s self-cannibalization, tough luck. (As is happening right now between Horseshoe Cleveland and Thistledown Racino, in Ohio.)

If Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was disappointed by the preponderance of favorite-son candidacies and wanted a big, Vegas firm to get into the action, well, he’s a happy man tonight.

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