Their location will be determined by Cuomo appointees, with input from local officials in potential host communities. If the new casinos are built, they are expected to be somewhere in the Catskills and the Saratoga Springs-Albany Northway corridor. The north-south highway runs from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania, roughly in a straight line just to the west of Seneca Lake. The Seneca tribe has exclusive rights for the entire western half of the state from Route 14 west. The Mohawk tribe has similar exclusive rights under the bill to for gambling casinos in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, Saint Lawrence and Warren counties. The bill gives the Oneida Indian Nation the exclusive rights to run casinos in “Region Four,” the state’s designation of a gambling district that includes Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and Otsego counties. The Upstate NY Gaming Economic Development Act serves as the legal blueprint for rolling out casinos if voters approve a gambling constitutional amendment in November to allow the operation of non-Indian commercial gambling casinos. Andrew Cuomo, who successfully pushed for the biggest expansion of casino gambling in New York state history and the largest since lawmakers fast-tracked a gambling expansion following 9/11. Now that the bill has passed both houses, it is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Saturday, the state Senate gave final passage to the bill to bring four Las Vegas-style gambling casinos to upstate New York and protect Turning Stone and other Indian casinos from nearby competition.

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