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Buffalo Consortium Pushes for Casinos

BUFFALO, New York – As reported by the Buffalo News: "A consortium of local hotel owners and managers wants the Greater Buffalo Convention and Visitors Bureau to rethink its anti-casino stance.

"The group, led by executives of the Hyatt Regency Buffalo, Adam's Mark Hotel and Buffalo Marriott, points to recent hotel occupancy rates, which have averaged less than 30 percent so far in 2004. Hyatt owner Paul Snyder said a city casino would generate increased overnight stays that the current level of conventions has failed to produce.

"…Convention Bureau President Richard Geiger recently reiterated his position that the Buffalo Convention Center should not be considered as a potential casino site. The center, which County Executive Joel A. Giambra pulled off the table as a possible location for a Seneca Nation of Indians casino last year, has recently received renewed attention as a gambling venue.

"The Buffalo Niagara Partnership this month also went on record opposing a casino in Buffalo and questioned whether casino gambling should be established anywhere in Erie County.

"Snyder predicts a Buffalo casino will attract a minimum of 4 million visitors annually, which is more customers than the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and all local cultural institutions combined draw. He also predicts 2 percent of those casino-goers will spend at least one night in Buffalo, bringing a much-needed influx of guests to area hotels…"

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