The last two people have been added to New York's gaming centre location board.

 Two new members were unanimously added to the board by the New York State Gaming Commission today (January 27). This board will decide later this year which three casino companies will get licenses to open land-based casinos in lower New York.
 New York City's Times Square
 Marion Phillips III, who used to be the head of DEI for US News & World Report, and Greg Reimers, a former real estate executive, were chosen today to serve on the New York Gaming Facility Location Board (NYGFLB).

 Out of the 11 bidders, the facility location board will choose three to give three land-based casino licenses in downstate by December.  The licenses are being fought over very hard.  There are big gaming companies involved, like Bally's, Caesars, MGM, and Wynn.  There are a lot of possible places, from horse racetracks and sports arenas to Times Square.

 A look at the board
 Phillips used to be the SVP of community affairs at Empire State Development in New York.  At JPMorgan Chase, Reimers was a managing director and in charge of marketing.  He was also deputy chief executive officer at the Bank of New York.

 In a press release, Brian O'Dwyer, chair of the gaming commission, said, "The board's important work of choosing up to three casino proposals will have a lasting impact on our state. Mr. Phillips and Mr. Reimers have the expertise and experience to do thorough evaluations of the projects."

 The board has been working with only three members, but it needs to have five.  Chair Vicki Been, who teaches law and public policy at NYU, and Stuart Rabinowitz, who is an attorney and used to be the president of Hofstra University, were chosen on October 4, 2022.  Carlos P. Naudon, a retired lawyer and CPA, was named on December 4, 2023.

 The three of them made a schedule for the application process for the casino in June of last year.  Bids are due on June 27, and licenses must be named by December 1, 2012.

 The board also set December 31 as the last day to get licence fees from the chosen groups.  Local community advisory groups (CACs) have to vote on bids after they come in.  Once a bidder has been accepted by a CAC, they can send "supplemental information" to the facility board.  When the bid process ends in June, CACs will be put in place.

 In the loop about giveaways
 Of course, O'Dwyer also talked about the rise of sweepstakes and other forms of illegal gaming in New York.  Even though the state hasn't done anything yet, O'Dwyer said that staff at the commission are looking into what should be done next.

 O'Dwyer said, "I have serious concerns that these groups are breaking the law."  "If this keeps up and is found to be against New York state law on gambling, I will do everything I can to make sure the law is followed."  That's right, and it's getting worse and worse.

 Contests that give free games are a common way to get people to enter. When the free play is over, players can buy "coins" or "tokens" to continue playing.  New York and most other states don't have any rules about the games.  The gambling business says that they are taking money and profits from licensees who follow the law.