Former head of DEI for US News & World Report Marion Phillips III and retired real estate executive Greg Reimers were selected to the New York Gaming Facility Location Board (NYGFLB) in a meeting today.
The facility location board will select from 11 bidders and award three downstate land-based casino licences by December. Competition for the licences is fierce. Major gambling corporations from Bally’s to Caesars to MGM to Wynn are in the mix. Potential locations run the gamut from existing horse racetracks to existing sports venues to Times Square.
A look at the board
Phillips was previously the SVP for community relations at New York’s Empire State Development. Reimers was a managing director and marketing manager at JPMorgan Chase. He was also an executive vice president at the Bank of New York.
“The board’s important work of selecting up to three casino proposals will have a lasting impact on our state and Mr Phillips and Mr Reimers have the expertise and experience to conduct thorough evaluations of the projects,” gaming commission chair Brian O’Dwyer said in a press release.
The board has been operating with three members, but is mandated to have five. Chair Vicki Been, a law and public policy professor at NYU, and Stuart Rabinowitz, an attorney and former president of Hofstra University, were appointed on 4 October 2022. Retired attorney and CPA Carlos P Naudon was appointed on 4 December 2023.
The trio rolled out a timeline for the casino application process last June. Bids are due 27 June and the commission must name licensees by 1 December.
The board also set 31 December as the deadline for collecting licence fees from the entities selected. After bids are received, local community advisory committees (CACs) must vote on bids. Bidders approved by a CAC can then submit “supplemental information” to the facility board. CACs will be put into place when the bid process closes in June.
Keeping an eye on sweepstakes
O’Dwyer also addressed the rise of sweepstakes and other sorts of unregulated gambling in New York. Although the state has not yet taken any action, O’Dwyer said commission staff are doing background work to determine next steps.
“I have serious concerns that these groups are running afoul of” state law, O’Dwyer said. “If this activity continues and is found to be in violation of New York state gaming law, I will do everything that I can to make sure that the law is upheld. It is serious and it is getting more and more serious.”
Sweepstakes, which generally bring consumers in by offering free-to-play games, ultimately offer players a chance to purchase “coins” or “tokens” when free play is exhausted. The games are unregulated in New York and most other states. The gambling industry says they are siphoning money and profits from regulated, legal licensees.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/casino/land-based-casino-regulation/new-york-facility-location-phillips-reimers/
