Back to the future at Aqueduct?

As the state tries to figure out what to do following the collapse of the Delaware North plan to build VLTs at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, which left a big hole in the state budget, Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the Assembly Racing Committee, said they should reconsider the MGM plan -- although not necessarily with MGM. MGM made a deal with the Pataki administration in 2005 to put in VLTs at Aqueduct, but pulled out in 2007. Delaware North won a later bidding process, but Pretlow said that was only because it promised $370 million to the state upfront, money which it said this month it could not pay. The other bidders, Pretlow said, SL Green and Mohegan Sun/Capital Play, had better proposals than Delaware North. Pretlow said the prospects for Aqueduct would be improved by ruling out VLT development at the nearby Belmont Park track. That is also the position of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Pretlow said he fully agrees with the speaker. Pretlow denied that the Paterson administration is disorganized, and said he has confidence in its handling of the matter. Sylvia Hamer, deputy secretary for technology operations and gaming, is point person on this for the governor. Pretlow and another knowledgeable source said the MGM plan went through the SEQR process and is likely the best starting point to resurrect the prospect of VLTs at Aqueduct. Pretlow said the state does not need to go through the full RFP process again. Installing several thousand VLTs at Aqueduct and redeveloping the facility is supposed to give New York racing long-term fiscal stability, as well as providing substantial additional revenue for the state. The Aqueduct VLTs were approved as a revenue-raiser following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. VLTs have been proposed but not yet approved at Belmont, too, including by Long Island senators and the Spitzer-Paterson administrations.