{"id":27701,"date":"2015-02-25T11:39:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T19:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=27701"},"modified":"2015-02-25T11:39:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T19:39:54","slug":"new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Attorney General Looking Into Casino Bidding Process"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Attorney
Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural is among those who have been approached by state investigators asking questions about New York\u2019s casino licensing process. (Image: theharnessedge.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The New York state attorney general\u2019s office has apparently opened an inquiry into how the three sites that were recommended by the Gaming Facility Location Board were chosen, and whether the bidding process as a whole was fair.<\/p>\n

According to various reports, investigators for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have met with some of the bidders who were a part of the casino selection process, seemingly to investigate whether conflicts of interest or other problems were present during the selection.<\/p>\n

According to a report by Central New York Media, the three winning bidders all had ties to Taft, Stettinius & Hollister.<\/p>\n

That firm merged with law firm Shefsky & Froelich last year, after which it became the lead gambling consultant for the location board. In total, five of the 16 casino bids mentioned ties to the firms as a potential conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

Gural Says Investigators Approached Him About Process<\/b><\/h2>\n

According to Tioga Downs<\/a> owner Jeff Gural, he has spoken to investigators about the bidding process. But though Gural has previously complained about the Southern Tier being passed over and has lobbied for his proposed casino to get a second look, he says he was not trying to allege any illegal activity in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t reach out to the AG,\u201d Gural said. \u201cIt was not my intent to complain.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gural said that while he told investigators that he didn\u2019t believe any laws had been broken during the bidding process, he did have questions about the potential conflict of interest caused by a winning bidder\u2019s connections to that casino consulting firm, something he feels may not have been fair.<\/p>\n

James Featherstonhaugh, an Albany lobbyist who worked with two losing bidders, also said that state investigators had contacted his clients in recent weeks. However, he offered comments that were even softer than those of Gural, saying that while he was disappointed in the results, he wasn\u2019t accusing the location board of any impropriety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought that the process was handled fairly and professionally,\u201d Featherstonhaugh told the New York Times. \u201cWe wish we had won. But we didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Location Board Says Process Was Fair and Transparent<\/b><\/h2>\n

According to location board spokesperson Lee Park, Taft\u2019s role in the process was only to compile submitted materials into more easily comparable summaries that board members could use.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaft had no direct input into decision-making of the board members,\u201d Park said last month.<\/p>\n

In a statement issues Monday, Park reiterated that the process was fair and followed the rules established by New York\u2019s casino law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe casino sitting process strictly followed the provisions of the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act, which called for unprecedented transparency,\u201d Park said. \u201cAll material regarding the process, including legally required disclosures of potential conflicts of interest, are available on our web site for anyone to examine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigation comes as the location board is preparing to deliver a final report on the three sites chosen for casinos on Friday. On that day, the board is also expected to consider a formal request for allowing new proposals from the Southern Tier region<\/a>, potentially allowing a fourth unused casino license to be awarded to a project there.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the three recommended casino projects in upstate New York include Montreign Resort and Casino in Thompson (located in the Catskills), Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady, and Lago Resort Casino in Tyre, near the Finger Lakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York state attorney general\u2019s office has apparently opened an inquiry into how the three sites that were recommended by the Gaming Facility Location Board were chosen, and whether the bidding process as a whole was fair. According to various reports, investigators for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have met with some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":27702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew York Attorney General Looking Into Casino Bidding Process<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The New York Attorney General is investigating whether conflicts of interest could have made the state\u2019s casino bidding process unfair to some contenders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Attorney General Looking Into Casino Bidding Process\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The New York Attorney General is investigating whether conflicts of interest could have made the state\u2019s casino bidding process unfair to some contenders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-25T19:39:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Unknown3.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"252\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/\",\"name\":\"New York Attorney General Looking Into Casino Bidding Process\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Unknown3.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-25T19:39:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-25T19:39:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The New York Attorney General is investigating whether conflicts of interest could have made the state\u2019s casino bidding process unfair to some contenders.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-attorney-general-looking-into-casino-bidding-process\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Unknown3.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Unknown3.jpeg\",\"width\":252,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural is among those who have been approached by state investigators asking questions about New York\u2019s casino licensing process. 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