The Genting Group is continuing their aggressive expansion into the United States casino market by offering to build a $4 billion convention center in New York City in exchange for legalized and exclusive casino rights in the city. The proposed convention center would be the largest in the US, and it would be built next to the Aqueduct Racetrack, which is operated by Genting.

A Risk worth taking

The big selling point with this convention center is that it will create thousands of new jobs in New York City, and bring in billions of dollars in tourism revenue. However, there's no guarantee that Genting would profit along with NYC, which is why they've added the stipulation about having exclusive rights to building casinos within the city. With New York's metropolitan population of almost 19 million people, the Malaysia-based company is willing to take whatever risks are necessary to secure this market.

Help from the Governor

Genting has a strong ally in the bid to expand their current Aqueduct Racetrack "racino" into a traditional casino since New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is on board. Cuomo is a strong proponent of expanding casino gambling in the city, and thinks that it would bring a lot of additional tax revenue and opportunities to New York. Currently, he's still talking over the deal with representatives of the Genting Group.

A Suitable Replacement

Assuming the convention center plan does go through, it would replace the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. And the latter would be transformed into hotels, offices and housing. But the plan isn't a shoe-in since there are plenty of opponents of Genting's proposal. Many think that Gov. Cuomo is trying to use the convention center to sell gambling in the city. In addition to this, those against casino expansion think it's basically an extra tax on low income people since they supposedly visit casinos the most. However, it's likely that plenty of wealthy New Yorkers will visit the casino as well.