The Gaming Commission has failed to bill four casinos in New York, which owe more than $13 million in oversight fees.
Four NY Casinos Owe Millions to the Gaming Commission in Fees
A year after its initial report, the New York State Comptroller’s Office said that 4 casinos owe $13 million to the Gaming Commission in past oversight fees from April 2017 to March 2019. The report, released in January 2020, stated that the Gaming Commission failed to bill the charges from the following casinos: Lago Resort & Casino, Resorts World, Tioga Downs Casino, and Rivers Casino & Resort. According to the Gaming Commission, the billing for oversight fees failed due to insufficient regulations.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that the Gaming Commission needs to do a better job of controlling New York’s gaming industry, as it is rapidly expanding. The commission should be able to collect its oversight fees.
The Gaming Commission Has Yet to See Any Payments
The Gaming Commission was unable to bill the casinos $3.7 million for non-personal service costs, from these $13 million. As of May 2021, the casinos also owe an additional $4.7 million for oversight fees from April 2019 to March 2020. Along with the previous 13 million, the casinos owe $17.7 million to the Gaming Commission.
In November, the casinos were billed $9.3 million and given a deadline until December to pay the fees. According to the report, the Gaming Commission hasn’t received any payments for the billed fees.
For the same three-year period, the commission has collected a total amount of $153.7 million from casinos owned by Native American tribes from their video lottery terminals.
The Gaming Commission Needs to Implement Changes Adequately
Gov. Cuomo and the Comptroller Office sent recommendations and proposals. A few months ago, Cuomo announced that New York is finally ready to start legalizing and regulating sports betting.
According to the Comptroller Office’s report, the Gaming Commission lacked policy regarding oversight fees and didn’t set a clear path to resolve the issues.
It stated the Gaming Commission lacked a policy regarding oversight charge disputes with no clear path to resolution of these issues. They also said that the commission was inadequately monitoring revenue reporting from Native American casinos.
Many of its recommendations by the Comptroller Office were only partially implemented. According to DiNapoli, the commission has made some changes, however, it needs to do more as New York is recovering from the pandemic and explores its options of issuing licenses to more casinos.