Suffolk OTB does not plan to bid for one of three downstate gaming licenses that would have added a Las Vegas-style casino at Jake’s 58 in Islandia, OTB president and chief executive Phil Boyle told Newsday on Friday.
Acquiring the license and building the casino would have cost Suffolk OTB at least $1 billion — far too much for the agency despite the enormous success of Jake’s 58, which includes 1,000 video lottery terminals, Boyle said.
“We’re not going to pursue that,” he said in a telephone interview. “Being a public benefit corporation, our profits go to the schools and New York State Education Department and Suffolk County … We think that the half-billion dollars is too much,” Boyle added of the license fee.
