Gural’s Tioga Downs proposal is lone bid for Southern Tier casino license

NICHOLS — In his business career, Jeffrey Gural — the owner of Tioga Downs Casino Racing & Entertainment in Nichols in Tioga County — believes when “things don’t make sense, they usually get fixed.”

 

“The decision not to give us a license made no sense. I think everybody recognized it made no sense,” Gural said, regarding the New York Gaming Facility Location Board’s decision last December to recommend three casino licenses in Upstate, but not one for Tioga Downs and the Southern Tier region.

 

But Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the New York State Gaming Commission to reopen the bidding for a fourth gaming license in the Southern Tier.

 

Gural’s proposal for Tioga Downs was the only bidder to emerge following the July 6 deadline for proposal submissions.

 

Gural spoke about his plans at the facility on July 7. A CNYBJ reporter listened to the audio of the news conference through a conference call. 

 

Gural had announced on Jan. 16 that he’d pursue the fourth casino license that the New York State Gaming Commission agreed to reconsider.

 

 “I’m going to get this license. I’m not going to leave anything unturned,” Gural said in his comments during the Jan. 16 news conference at Tioga Downs.

 

Gural figured it was a “good sign” that the application deadline, July 6, is also his birthday, he said in his remarks at the press conference.

 

He took the criticisms of the New York Gaming Facility Location Board in the first round of this process “to heart and wherever we could, we basically made changes so that those criticisms would disappear.”

 

The latest proposal expands the hotel, offers a different finance structure, adds another $32 million in equity, and takes advantage of a lower tax rate. 

 

“So, we’re using that savings to build another restaurant, and I think we’re in terrific shape,” Gural contended.

 

If the proposed Tioga Downs casino is a “huge success,” the application also calls for a second phase that could mean another hotel or water park, he added.

 

Gural said that people in the Southern Tier might be able to celebrate Independence Day in 2016 at the Tioga Downs casino, “as opposed to [its current status as] a racino.

 

He’s also anticipating that Tioga Downs will have the casino license on Jan. 1, 2016.

 

Tioga Downs would create about 560 new, direct jobs at the facility, which would bring total employment to about 1,100.

 

That’s according to an executive summary on the project that the company distributed following the July 7 announcement.

 

The facility already employs between 300 and 500 people, depending on the season. 

 

The proposed $195 million project would also create more than 200 indirect jobs in the Southern Tier, a region that has the “highest percentage of unemployment in upstate New York,” Tioga Downs said.