Gambling Industry Money Is Streaming Into Albany
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: September 18, 2012
As Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo seeks legislative and public support for an expansion of the number of casinos in New York State, the gambling industry is pouring millions of dollars into lobbying state lawmakers and donating to their campaign funds.
Indian tribes, racetrack casinos and other gambling interests have spent nearly $50 million on lobbying and campaign contributions in the state since 2005, according to a new analysis by a government-reform group, Common Cause New York.
And there is no end in sight: the industry is on pace to spend more this year than ever before, according to the report, which will be released on Wednesday. Gambling interests spent nearly $4 million on lobbying and more than $700,000 on campaign contributions in the first half of 2012, records show.
The surge in spending comes as the Cuomo administration and the Legislature are discussing how and where to allow new casinos. There are currently five casinos run by Indian tribes and nine so-called racinos at racetracks where electronic gambling is permitted, but table games with dealers are banned.
The Legislature has been discussing issues affecting horse racing and racinos for years. And this year, it began the process of amending the State Constitution to allow up to seven new full-scale, privately owned casinos, potentially worth billions of dollars to developers. For the amendment to become law, the legislators taking office in January must give it the green light, and then voters must approve it.
Mr. Cuomo supports the new casinos because of the likelihood that they would generate significant tax revenue and jobs. But the governor and lawmakers have not yet embarked upon the politically volatile task of deciding where the new casinos would be or who would run them, creating an opening for gambling concerns to step up their efforts to win influence in the state capital.
“It’s just like a feeding frenzy,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York. “More than any other industry, almost, you have hundreds of millions and billions of dollars riding on specific decisions by the Legislature and the governor. And that’s why you see so much money being invested.”
Common Cause conducted its analysis by examining lobbying and campaign-finance disclosures that were filed with the State Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the State Board of Elections. Ms. Lerner pointed to the spending as an indication that the Legislature should put in place a system to finance state elections publicly and lower the contribution limits for campaign donations.
Paul Davies, a fellow at the Institute for American Values who edits an antigambling blog, predicted that as the amendment process continued, opponents of expanded gambling in New York State would be unable to compete financially with the industry.
“Those guys will outspend any efforts, if there is even any organized or disorganized effort on the other side, by large margins to influence opinion,” he said.
In recent years, the gambling industry’s contributions have gone to a variety of officeholders. The industry has donated nearly $4 million to candidates for the Senate and the Assembly and to the legislative caucuses in both houses.
But Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has been the largest individual recipient of the industry contributions. Since 2007, he has received $716,000 in campaign donations from the industry and those tied to it, according to the Common Cause analysis. (Those donations account for a small fraction of the governor’s overall fund-raising; as of July, his campaign account had a balance of more than $19 million.)
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo said Tuesday that the contributions did not affect the governor’s position. “No contribution, no matter the amount, has any influence on the operations of this administration — period,” the spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, wrote in an e-mail.
The spending has come from a variety of constituencies in the gambling industry, many of them with competing interests. The racinos, which hope to expand into full-fledged casinos, have represented the largest portion of the industry’s spending in recent years: $16.5 million since 2005.
Other gambling companies, including many that want a piece of the state’s gambling marketplace, have spent $10.5 million. And Indian tribes, some of whom already operate casinos in the state and are not eager for more competition, have spent $9.6 million. The balance of the spending has come from horse-racing and off-track-betting interests.
The largest spender, according to the analysis, was the Oneida Indian Nation, which operates the Turning Stone casino in central New York and spent $3.5 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. An Oneida spokesman, Dan Smith, said Tuesday that the nation’s dealings with Albany included a number of subjects, not just gambling.
“We are absolutely going to fight for policies that we believe will help create jobs and improve New York State’s economy,” Mr. Smith said.
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