Video report...
QUEENS (CBS) ― The state budget is balanced this year but next year won't be so easy. The souring economy will have lawmakers looking for new sources of revenue, and they may have found one in the form of slot machines in Queens.
CBS 2 HD has learned that the idea may be on the fast track.
The state may soon be saying giddy-up to the idea of mixing horses with slot machines in an effort to help bridge next year's expected $5 billion budget gap.
"What we've got to do is go beyond where people have gone before and start attacking debt preemptively," Gov. David Paterson said.
Paterson says he'll consider this pre-emptive strike -- installing 4,500 slot machines at the state-owned Aqueduct Racetrack, turning the place into what's called a "racino," similar to what's at the Yonkers Raceway. However, the governor is not yet convinced it's worth the gamble.
"We don't want to be enticing people to gamble and throw their resources away and become heavily dependent on our social services," Paterson said.
Currently this track is open just seven months a year. But if slot machines were to come, Aqueduct would be generating revenue year round, even when betting windows aren't open.
Aqueduct estimates each slot machine would generate $225 in daily revenue for the state. If 4,500 machines are installed, that could mean a jackpot of more than $1 million a day, turning the track into much more than a one-trick pony. Still, not everyone is sold.
"All in all it's a bad idea," State Sen. Frank Padavan, R-Queens, told CBS 2 HD by phone. "There are better ways of dealing with deficits than taking money out of the back pockets of people who can't afford it."
Added Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper, D-Hempstead: "I need to know what impact it would have on the community, what impact the community feels about it."
CBS 2 HD tried to find out. The reaction to the proposal was generally mixed.
"It's going to bring a bad element to the neighborhood," Elio Filosa said.
"It doesn't matter because we have the horses and we have the traffic here already," Maria Vertucci said.
Traffic that would grow along with the millions pocketed by the state.
Right now there are three developers who have bids in with the state, each ready to pay a slot machine licensing fee of approximately $250 million.
