Tioga, Vernon casinos to stay open

Tioga and Vernon Downs will keep their casinos open for at least another two weeks while New York legislators work out the details of legislation that would give the two upstate racetracks more income from the gaming revenue, according to a story in the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin.

According to the Saturday, Feb. 2 story, Jeff Gural, principal owner of the two tracks, said he considered closing Vernon Downs Jan. 7, but was persuaded by members of the state Assembly to keep the track’s VLT facility open by assuring him the bill would pass. Gural is saying he is confident the bill will pass by Feb. 13, but   state Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, who has been involved in fine tuning the bill, said he couldn’t commit to a specific date.

According to Gural the legislation would increase the track’s take on gaming revenue to 40 percent from 32 percent now; revenue for marketing would increase from eight percent to 10 percent and the racinos would receive four percent of the gaming revenue to reimburse capital expenditures.

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