New York blesses three casinos; Sinatra hangout resurrected

Not a discouraging word was to be heard as the New York State Gaming Commission unanimously approved licenses for three casinos in various upstate market. (Tioga Downs‘ turn comes later, as it was delayed entrant to the process.) This removes the uncertainty  and frustration that were dogging $320-million Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor, near Schenectady, $425-million Lago Resort & Casino and the big dog, $1.3-billion Montreign Resort Casino, in the Catskills. Montreign developer and Genting Group subsidiary Empire Resorts certainly isn’t thinking small about the casino: 90,000 square feet of gambling that will include 102 tables and 2,150 slots. It’s part of a bigger resort project, Adelaar, that will supplement Montreign’s charms with an indoor water park and a golf course. Now Empire can stop just moving dirt around and get down to construction in earnest.

Gaming Commission Chairman Robert Williams made the sort of remarks that are de rigeur for such occasions, saying, “New York State will soon realize the economic benefits of resort gaming destinations. These projects will create thousands of jobs, bring much-needed economic development to long-stressed communities and drive revenue to support schools and local governments—with zero taxpayer dollars.” Uh yeah, no taxpayer dollars … unless you count what players will lose at the casinos. It’s a great day for the industry but, let’s face it, it’s new taxation by any other name.

* Cross your fingers and hope that the owners of the Cal Neva Resort & Casino really mean it this time when they say they’ll reopen in May. (Several previous reopening dates have been missed.) A plan to reboot the Cal Neva on Frank Sinatra‘s centenary, even had it succeeded, would have been risky, given the volatility of Lake Tahoe revenues in winter months. Owner Criswell Radovan LLC has been able to persuade Starwood Hotels to take over hotel operations at the Cal Neva, whose refurbishment has been slowed both by financing difficulties and the age of the property itself, parts of which date back to 1937.

Elements of the reborn Cal Neva are to include a non-smoking casino and a “carefully restored” showroom. The iconic Circle Bar is to be preserved intact as well. Criswell-Radovan informed Bay Area real estate paper The Registry that, as for dining, “The resort’s three restaurants will include a fine dining restaurant with an exhibition kitchen, a casual three-meal restaurant adjacent to the pool – which will also serve a daily breakfast buffet – and a third outpost with a retail component that will transition from a morning bakery/café to a gourmet pizza and wine kitchen in the afternoon.” Interior designer Paul Duesing was tapped to lead the restoration team.

The hotel had only a one-star rating and co-owner Robert Radovan hopes to get that up to a four-star ranking by giving the rooms “an elegant, clean, post-modern feel,” by enlarging their windows and bathrooms, and bringing the amenities up to date. The outdoor pool would also be moved. (No more swimming back and forth across the California–Nevada state line. Party poopers.) In addition to unspecified entertainment offerings, “local community events and recitals” are promised for the showroom, which will be repainted, re-carpeted and have its sound system upgraded. “The acoustics in that place are amazing. The modernized equipment will allow for high-end concerts,” Radovan told CTV News.

A return to a full-scale, 6,000-foot casino floor, with table games – managed by a third-party operator — also figures in Radovan’s plans. Since the Cal Neva only has 191 hotel rooms and a smattering of cabins – of which Radovan figured to reopen five – it will be heavily dependent on the casino for its revenue stream.