After years of bickering and false starts, Governor Paterson and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed on a plan to bring casino gambling to the New York City region.

The deal gives Genting New York, a subsidiary of the largest gambling outfit in England and Southeast Asia, the right to install 4,525 video slot machines at Aqueduct racetrack in Queens. The state attorney general and the state comptroller still have to sign off on the deal, but if approved, work could start as early as September, and slot machines could be running within a year.

Genting is pledging to pay a $380 million upfront licensing fee, giving the state an immediate infusion of cash. Genting says Aqueduct will generate more than $1.5 million a day in tax revenue for the state, but not everyone is happy.

Senator Frank Padavan (R-Queens), pictured left, believes that gambling is a tax on the poor, and an industry whose social costs, including addiction, outweigh any growth in jobs or tax revenue. He says, “The state had a golden opportunity to develop meaningful assets such as shopping malls and affordable housing, things that would have permanent value. But government is hell bent on expanding gambling in the state.”

Republican Senator Frank Padavan gets it!  New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms applauds Senator Frank Padavan for his consistent and clear stance in opposition to gambling expansion.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/nyregion/13aqueduct.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion