Explosive accusation

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has leveled an explosive accusation at Hofstra University, stating that it is colluding with Hard Rock International over a New York State casino license.

“We found that Hofstra University and one of the competitors to Las Vegas Sands were working in coordination and some might even say collusion,” Blakeman stated at a Nassau Legislative meeting on Wednesday in New York.

The competitor named was Hard Rock, part of the group supporting New York Mets’ owner Steve Cohen’s $8bn bid for a casino licence in downstate Queens. According to ABC 7, the Nassau executive and attorney produced an email sent by a Hard Rock consultant.

The email reads:

I am checking with Hofstra to see if they will oppose this move.”

Las Vegas Sands and Nassau County are in a wrangle with Hofstra over converting the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a downstate casino near the campus.

County issues subpoenas

Blakeman’s damning accusation centers on the alleged communication between Hofstra and Hard Rock.

“You have an applicant for a license that’s not supposed to be colluding or coordinating with any other entity against anybody else’s application,” the Nassau County executive told lawmakers.

Evidencing how seriously the body was taking Blakeman’s accusation, was Presiding Officer for the legislature, Howard Kopel. “I signed and had issued several subpoenas to Susan Poser for her testimony as well as production of documents,” Kopel stated.

The Hard Rock consultant, meanwhile, did not copy Hofstra into the email and there is no evidence of the university’s response to it. Hofstra University President Poser must now furnish the Nassau Legislature with the subpoena documents by Monday.

just another spurious attempt to distract and impede”

In retaliation, Hofstra issued a scathing statement of its own. The university deemed the subpoena “just another spurious attempt to distract and impede a fair and open process regarding the transfer of Nassau County land.”

Many twists

In April, Hofstra filed a lawsuit against Nassau County Planning Commission over the NCPC’s move to awards Sands a 99-year lease for the land. Sands plans to build a $4bn casino on the Uniondale land should it win one of the three downstate licenses.

In May, however, a Superior Court judge blocked the planned Sands casino project after ruling in favour of Hofstra’s lawsuit which claimed the NCPC violated NY State’s open meetings law.

Hofstra and residents of Hempstead are against the Sands casino plan, fearing crime, traffic and gambling addiction problems. Blakeman stated the Sands casino would rake in $100m in annual revenue, while Nassau officials said the Nevada-based casino and resort giant also promised $1m for extra police patrols and gambling addiction programs.

Hempstead will convene its first public meeting on the Sands casino on Thursday.