Given its size and location, the Schenectady site is probably the best outcome MGM-Springfield could have hoped for.
A New York State Gaming Board Wednesday selected developers and sites for three new casinos to be built upstate.
Among the projectsrecommended by the Gaming Facility Location Board is a casino at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady.
Clyde Barrow, a political science professor and a consultant for casino companies, said he thinks the $300 million project will draw away some business that MGM-Springfield hoped to get from New Yorkers. But he said that given its size and location, the Schenectady site is probably the best outcome MGM could have hoped for.
“I suspect MGM is cheering this decision,” Barrow said. “Not only because it will be competing against a comparatively smaller facility, but also because it’s located a fairly significant distance northwest of Albany. And that really puts it as far away as possible from Springfield as well.”
Barrow said New York residents could account for up to 20 percent of MGM’s revenue.
This report was originally published by New England Public Radio.
