Quote:
Originally Posted by onefast99
You link a 16 month old story on American Dream who is the new suitor for the Xanadu project that has been going on since 2002 in the state of NJ and to this day has been an eye sore to millions. American Dream is building an amusement park with 4 roller coasters, theme based rides and a Kosher food court and several high end department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue which has been closing brick and mortar over the past 5 years. American Dream is scheduled to open in the spring of 2019. They have as of today issued another $800 million in bonds that the borough is not involved in the issuance of the non-recourse, unrated bonds which means that East Rutherford, or the state of NJ or the NJSEA are not liable in case of default.
If you think that the NJSEA will pay him $130m for what many believe will eventually be a Casino and hotel complex on his site and he takes it he will be leaving millions on the table, if not approaching a billion or so. He will also walk away from Winners in Bayonne which he put over $16m into, an OTW facility that is doing well. You said he was smart, he is and he isn't going anywhere as two casinos in Northern NJ wont be allowed to be within at least 20 miles of one another.Gural and Hard Rock are part of a group that will have the first right of refusal on a casino if the Northern NJ casinos are approved by the voters of NJ(Hard Rock just took over the Taj Mahal in AC), which may not be until 2020. Gural even came out and said he will wait the 6 years for NY to build out three casinos and then the NJ voters will realize how casinos in Northern NJ are indeed a great idea!
Take into consideration that NJ will have a new governor, as former Governor Codey said three weeks ago at the Monmouth Park opening luncheon "things will be better when Gov. Chris Christie is out of office".
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What I'm saying is this because I've worked at both a racetrack and on casino astroturfing. The politicians are backing New Jersey residents into a corner to make them decide between a turd sandwich and a giant douche. Basically they have to choose between expanding gambling something they've rejected months ago by a clear margin. Or writing a check nearing $200 million to Jeff Gural. Neither is appealing. As with all these deals the public loses either way.
In terms of Gural of course he'll wait. The best case scenario is he owns a casino. The worst is he gets his money back. I've never been offered an investment opportunity like that. Have you?
But he's turning on Monmouth. Monmouth can't wait. They don't have six years. So if Monmouth magically went away he and his partners along with the state get their cut of the pie. You don't think he's going to Fredo them? You don't think he and his partners are thinking the longer they wait the better the chance Monmouth's problems resolve themselves?
And then there's Monmouth. This whole concept of a horsemen' group running a track? It's madness. The other tracks that are barely staying a float are run by real executives and owners. And Monmouth is run by horsemen. How much longer can that go on?
Honestly if TVG didn't see Monmouth as a chance to gain a foothold in the east coast and exchange wagering it could be dead already.
