KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Genting Berhad’s plans to build a huge gambling complex just 44 miles from Manhattan, New York City, armed with a budget of US$6 billion (RM19 billion) and 40 years of experience, have conservationists and competitors up in arms, the New York Times reported.
The Malaysian company plans a complex “with 1,000 hotel rooms and over-the-top entertainment for every taste and season: theaters, restaurants, ski runs, formal gardens, zip lines — even a refurbished Renaissance village,” the paper said.
The site of the complex gives it the ultimate catchment area—New York City, with 8.4 million residents and 50 million tourists a year.
“Conservationists are in revolt over the damage they fear such a huge gambling mecca would do to the pristine, publicly owned woodlands surrounding the Tuxedo site,” the paper reported.
If Genting gets the licence, Andrew Cuomo the governor of New York may also be criticised on grounds of fairness.
Genting operates a slot-machine parlour next to the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, which is the busiest casino location in North America.
The new gambling site would consolidate Genting’s position atop New York’s gambling industry, competitors say.
To boost its chances of getting a licence, Genting has made its offer hard to turn down.
According to the paper, the company has committed to invest at least US$1.5 billion in its development.
“It has offered the state government a lump-sum license fee of US$450 million — more than six times the US$70 million requirement. It has promised to build a US$30 million highway interchange to bring visitors to its front doors. It says it will generate US$400 million a year in state and local taxes, much of it for education, and has proposed to turn over another 6 per cent of its slot-machine revenue — a projected US$30 million a year — to benefit New York’s state parks.”
Genting contends that it is uniquely capable of flourishing in New York thanks to an international database of 12 million customers, including more Asians than any rival, as it runs the busiest casinos in Malaysia and the Philippines and a hugely profitable one in Singapore.
“The magic is that New York’s already an attraction,” the paper quoted Christian Goode, a Genting executive as saying .
“Asian customers are already coming here for shopping, to take their kids to school, or for a holiday. Our destination will complement those trips: You can still enjoy the museums, the shopping, the restaurants in New York City — and go to a five-star-plus resort with a world-class spa, a ski slope and hiking. We’ll provide everything from shuttle buses to limo service.”
