The five-person panel that will decide who gets lucrative casino licenses in and around New York City has been shaken up in recent months by the unexplained resignations of two of its members.
Quenia Abreu, president and CEO of the New York Women’s Chamber of Commerce, stepped down in November from her volunteer post on the Gaming Facility Location Board. Another departure followed last week: Carlos Naudon, president and CEO of Ponce Bank, submitted his own resignation Feb. 20, just over a year after he was appointed.
The state’s Gaming Commission, which is overseeing the downstate casino process, did not offer explanations for Abreu or Naudon’s departures. Agency spokesman Lee Park provided both Abreu’s and Naudon’s resignation letters, which do not say why they are leaving; neither resignation was ever officially announced by the commission.
The personnel changes at the all-important board have not gone unnoticed among the high-powered developers and lobbying teams vying for one of three downstate licenses — each of which could generate some $2 billion in yearly revenue by some estimates. The board has met twice since its creation in 2022, but has not yet begun its work in earnest; that will change this fall, once the process gets underway and the GFLB meets to decide on each license.
Intended to start as early as 2022, the downstate casino process has been delayed as regulators took time to answer questions and give each applicant time to sort out local land-use issues before applying. Under the latest official timeline, applications are expected to open in the coming months and be due by June 27, kicking off a process that will begin with binding votes by six-person neighborhood committees and end with the GFLB’s decision.
The board is expected to decide the winners by Dec. 1 and formally award the licenses by Dec. 31. Under the state law that authorized downstate casinos, the GFLB is required to base its decision on a number of factors, including each project’s economic development potential, job creation and impact on local communities.
There are 11 known contenders for the three licenses, consisting mostly of teams of real estate firms and gambling companies — although that field could narrow once applications are due, along with the requisite $1 million fee for each bid.
The Gaming Commission has acted quickly to fill the board’s vacancies. To replace Abreu and fill another seat that was vacant at the time she resigned, the state in January appointed Marion Phillips III, an executive at U.S. News & World Report and former Empire State Development official; and Greg Reimers, a longtime real estate finance executive who recently retired as managing director at JPMorgan Chase.
And to replace Naudon, the commission last week named Terryl Brown, vice president and general counsel at Pace University and a former deputy commissioner in the city Fire Department.
The other commissioners, who have served on the board since its inception, are Stuart Rabinowitz, a former president of Hofstra University; and Vicki Been, an NYU law professor and former deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio, who is the panel’s chair.
Neither Naudon nor Abreu could be reached for comment Tuesday morning, and the Gaming Commission did not directly respond to questions about why they resigned.
State law says that the board members cannot have close relationships to anyone with a gaming license or have a financial stake in gaming activities. It also requires that each board member have at least 10 years’ experience in fiscal issues and other experience in accounting, finance, economics and commercial real estate, or as an executive of a “large organization or foundation.”
Abreu, in her Nov. 4 resignation letter, wrote that it had been “an honor to work alongside such dedicated colleagues on a project of great importance for the State of New York.” Naudon wrote that his brief tenure had been “a pleasure.”
