EDITORIAL: Aqueduct deal is a new low

Slots usually are a bad bet, especially in Albany.

New York has been trying to put electronic slot machines at Aqueduct Racetrack for eight years, and the latest cynical gamble by Gov. David A. Paterson is another losing effort.

In a secretive process that already has flies circling it, Paterson selected a firm that didn't make the highest bid, has negligible experience in gaming, and includes principals with a felony fraud conviction and bankruptcy in their past. Even worse, it certainly looks like he horse-traded the video lottery terminal contract to win political support for his re-election bid.

The only person who could be excited about this deal is the Queens district attorney.

Paterson's selection is so bad, and Democratic Senate leaders are so compromised by it, that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver emerges as the winner. At least he is insisting that the winner, Aqueduct Entertainment Group, match the $300 million down payment promised by the highest bidder, pay the cash before the end of March and shed its shady characters. But Silver didn't go far enough.

The speaker should demand the release of all the bids and the negotiated contract, and join the call by Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) for joint legislative hearings. That's the only possible way to restore confidence in AEG's selection, as well as to determine if there was a side deal to derail any possible development of a full-scale casino at Belmont Park by the Shinnecock Nation.

The state desperately needs VLT revenue to soften cuts to school funding, but once again the odds are against New York. hN