Four casino licenses will be awarded among the Capital Region, Hudson Valley and Southern Tier. The Gaming Commission’s Facility Location Board will choose sites for a casino by the fall. “It is a distressed area - the jobs alone will be transformative and will recast the future of this historic, iconic upstate New York area.” “The per capita income for the city of Schenectady is $19,420 and over 25,000 Schenectady County residents received some sort of aid from the county’s Public Assistance Programs in March 2014,” the executive summary reads. In the executive summary included with the casino application submitted to the state Gaming Commission on June 30, Galesi and Rush Street Gaming point to Schenectady as a distressed area and in need of an economic boost. After only two hours of the festival, the clipboards were filled with hundreds of signatures. The booth also had several clipboards for local residents to sign in favor of the Schenectady casino proposal. The casino had its own booth, with large renderings of the project displayed on State Street in front of Johnny’s and free giveaways including beach balls and pens, both branded with the casino’s logo.

Rush Street Gaming was a sponsor of Schenectady’s annual SummerNight Festival, held Friday evening on Jay and State streets in downtown Schenectady. The entire Mohawk Harbor developmĮnt is projected to take between three and five years. If awarded a license, the group anticipates the casino will be up and running within 24 months. The RPI nuclear lab will be transformed into a lighthouse. To the right of the apartments are condominiums and townhouses. In the aerial rendering, the 304 apartments are pictured in the middle of the site in a semicircle. The casino will sit on a portion of the former Alco site, now called Mohawk Harbor, where the Galesi Group also plans another $150 million redevelopment project with a second, 124-room hotel apartments condominiums townhouses and office and retail space. The development is expected to attract 2.8 million new visitors each year and create 1,200 permanent jobs. Rush Street Gaming estimates the casino would annually generate $223 million in gaming revenue, $82 million in gaming taxes and fees and $50 million in payroll, benefits and tips.

The company already runs several casinos including the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Illinois, and another Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. Rush Street Gaming of Chicago would operate the casino.

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