Newsday: Suffolk OTB may try again for Medford casino

<p>Suffolk Off-Track Betting may try its hand at another attempt at building a Medford casino, Newsday reports.</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 13, 2018, 7:45 PM

Updated 1,989 days ago

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Suffolk Off-Track Betting may try its hand at another attempt at building a Medford casino, Newsday reports.
Just mentioning the word "casino" in the Medford area can send some neighbors into a tailspin.
"We're strongly opposed to this as we were two years ago," says Jim Tooher, of the Medford Civic Association.
That opposition was against plans for a video lottery casino along the south service road of the Long Island Expressway, between Route 112 and Horseblock Road.
According to Newsday, Suffolk OTB president Phil Nolan says the group is now considering trying to revive those plans.
"We think there are plenty of other good uses for that property," Tooher says. "We want OTB to sell it."
Suffolk OTB so far has not been able to sell the vacant 32-acre lot. Current state law limits Suffolk to 1,000 video lottery terminal, or VLT, machines. All of those are located at Jake's 58 Hotel & Casino in Islandia. At this time, there are no laws pending in the state Legislature to change that restriction.
No comment has been made from the Town of Brookhaven on any possible new plans for a casino. A town spokesman says they have no paperwork yet.
Peter Creedon, an attorney representing the civic groups opposed to a casino, says the area wasn't zoned for gambling two years ago -- and still isn't. He says he hasn't seen any actual plans yet, but he isn't waiting.
"It's never too soon to start thinking about what someone is trying to do and if it's going to be bad for you," he says.
News 12 made multiple calls to the Suffolk OTB, but they went unreturned.


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