NY Mets' Owners Pitch for Queens Casino

Mr. Met

Oh, those wild and crazy New York Mets have created quite a story for the back pages. The tale begins with the Metropolitans, one of Major League Baseball's premier franchises, pleading poverty in the wake of the Bernie Madoff affair. Their solution to this dilemma, however, does not involve improving the baseball team. Instead, according to an article in today's New York Post, Sterling Equities has made a pitch to build a casino adjacent to the Mets' ballpark, Citi Field.

Sterling Equities is the "development arm" of the Mets' owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. They've made a deal with a local Native American tribe to operate the gambling parlor. (Native Americans have a monopoly on table gaming in the Empire State.) Now, inquiring minds may ask how an Indian reservation was found about two miles from LaGuardia Airport. Well, there isn't one. The New York State Legislature would have to amend current statutes to permit table gambling in the Big Apple. Unsurprisingly, there's been some initial discussion in Albany addressing that very topic.

Now, before you can say "round up the usual suspects," keep in mind that Major League Baseball is highly allergic to any association with organized crime -- excuse me -- organized gambling. Further, New York governor Andrew Cuomo appears cool to the idea of a "family-style" gaming oasis in Queens. Gotham's legal games of chance currently focus on horse racing. Of course, illegal gambling is a major New York business. Why would anyone want to legalize such a lucrative money pot?

It's more than a little sad to see Citi Field pathetically empty during the height of a baseball season. The way to fix that depressing atmosphere is for Wilpon and Katz to put a better product on the diamond, rather than putting their money on a fixed casino game.