By Chris Bragg

After months of arguing that New York should initially site three casinos in upstate New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday morning that he had decided to push for four, while also pushing for a longer moratorium on the building of New York City gambling establishments.”The number is up to four casinos,” Mr. Cuomo said on the public radio program The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter.Under a proposed constitutional amendment likely to go before voters in November, up to seven casinos could be built statewide. Mr. Cuomo had been pushing a moratorium of five years on any in New York City, but as negotiations heat up with the Legislature, he said during the radio interview that the period should instead be seven years.Presumably, the longer time period would make upstate casino development more attractive, since the establishments would not have worry about competition from a New York City casino for an extra two years. The city has one state-sanctioned gambling venue, Resorts World Casino in Queens, but the state constitution does not allow it to have human dealers. Mr. Cuomo wants to drive tourists to “destination-style” casinos in struggling upstate regions and create jobs, and has not said whether a casino should eventually go to New York City.

via NYC casinos? Make that 7 years, Cuomo says – The Insider Blog | Crains New York Business.