'Racino' opens today at Aqueduct Racetrack

ALBANY -- After a decade of debate, delay and scandal, video slot machines will start whirring Friday in New York City as Aqueduct Racetrack aims to lure some of the gamblers now headed to Atlantic City and Connecticut.

The "racino" will have 4,525 video slot machines and 475 electronic games to start, and thousands more to come in an upstairs area, and other casino-like amenities. The Queens track is a short distance from Kennedy Airport and millions of local workers and residents.

More than 1,300 jobs were created to build the facility that includes 18 food and beverage courts, including two restaurants, four VIP lounges, a bar and theater for music and comedy acts.

It's close to a renovated A Train subway station stop and a bus stop, and there's parking for 6,400 cars. Advocates say the subway stop provides easy access to a unique gambling opportunity, but anti-gambling forces warn the racino will addict millions of people to the detriment of their families.

The enterprise, like other racinos at tracks across the state, aims to provide millions of dollars a year in revenue to the cash-strapped state and its racing industry, which is competing against casinos and other forms of gambling.

The New York Racing Association runs racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred tracks, and calls it a "new era."

"The opening of Genting's Resorts World New York Casino is a highly anticipated event that will benefit all of the stakeholders at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course," said NYRA President Charles Hayward. "Increased purses will help bring more top owners, trainers and horses to our tracks, create larger fields for our customers to wager on, and generate higher handle for our races."

Aqueduct is the first racino in New York City, with the next closest facility at Yonkers Raceway to the north. Others are at harness racing tracks in Central New York, Saratoga Springs and in Western New York and the Southern Tier. The racino is projected to bring in $350 million a year in revenue.

NYRA predicts the racino will provide $30 million more for racing purses (a 6.5 percent increase), $20 million more for its capital improvements fund (4 percent more), and $15 million more for operations (3 percent more).

Racinos were approved as a response to lost revenue after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But the most promising revenue raiser -- Aqueduct -- has been plagued by political squabbles and delayed by a federal investigation into the way the contract was first awarded in Albany. A subsequent bidding contest followed.