LoHud
The New York Gaming Association, the lobbying group for the state’s nine racetracks, is touting the nearly $667 million that the state’s video-lottery terminals generated for education in the 2011-12 state fiscal year, which ended March 31.
Records from the state Lottery shows that the net win—the amount that is left after pay out to players—soared nearly 29 percent, from $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion over the past two fiscal years.
Of that, nearly 47 percent went into the state’s coffers and designated for school aid—with the education pot growing from $521 million to $667 million, up nearly 28 percent.
But so too are the profits revenues to the nine racetracks, particularly because of the addition of Aqueduct Race Track’s 5,000 video-lottery terminals that went live late last year.
The profits for the tracks, the so-called agent commission—grew from $364 million to $477 million, up 31 percent.
The tracks are promoting their positive impact on the state’s economy has they lobby Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers to let them expand to add table games. The Legislature adopted the first of two constitutional amendments last month to legalize casino gambling, but the state hasn’t determined where the new casinos would go.
“Through our partnership with the Division of Lottery and the State of New York, we have been able to generate substantial revenues for education,” James Featherstonhaugh, president of NYGA, a prominent lobbyist and part-owner of Saratoga Racing and Gaming, said in a statement. “We have been not only a significant source of funding but a reliable one as well and we look forward to increasing that contribution by hundreds of millions of dollars, bringing our contribution to over $1 billion next year.”