M E M O R AN D U M TO: Interested Parties FROM: RE: DATE: Global Strategy Group Casino Gambling and the 2013 electorate

February 5, 2013

Democratic Primary Voters Oppose Building Casinos at New Sites in NYC

Converting the Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens has support Global Strategy Group conducted a survey of 700 likely 2013 Democratic Primary voters and 600 likely 2013 General Election voters between January 23-37, 2013 exploring a wide variety of issues in relation to the legalization of casino gambling in New York State and the construction of new full-scale casinos in New York City. Key findings are as follows: New York City Democratic primary voters oppose building full-scale casinos at new sites within New York City. A majority of voters (56%) oppose building new full-scale casinos, while just 37% support it. Voters are also opposed to a constitutional amendment that would leave open the possibility of future casinos in New York City (the current proposal pending in Albany), opposing it by a margin of 58% to 36%. When asked about particular areas, 60% oppose building a new full-scale casino in Queens, 62% oppose building one in Brooklyn, and 74% oppose building one in your neighborhood. While this memo focuses on the Democratic primary electorate, it is important to note that likely general election voters show similar levels of opposition to building new full-scale casinos in New York City (40% support/54% oppose). However, primary voters do support the proposal to turn the Aqueduct Racetrack casino into a full-scale casino. Six in ten voters support turning the existing racetrack casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens into a full-scale casino (60% support/36% oppose). Additionally, a majority of primary voters support the proposal to build six new full-scale casinos outside the city and to build the seventh at the existing Aqueduct Racetrack site (51% support/43% oppose). This plan is preferred to a number of other casino plans: Voters prefer the Aqueduct-only plan to building no casinos in the city at all. A proposal for licensing seven casinos statewide without a New York City location earns lower levels of support (43% support/49% oppose). Similar numbers are seen for the proposal to build three casinos upstate, with none in New York City (44%/50%). Primary voters clearly prefer the Aqueduct-only plan when asked directly to choose between two plans to build full-scale casinos in New York City. By a significant 19point margin, primary voters prefer that the construction of a full-scale casino be limited to only the existing Aqueduct Racetrack Casino (52%) over allowing the construction of fullscale casinos at new sites within New York City (33%). Furthermore, primary voters who say they would oppose pro-casino candidates (those who say they are less likely to vote for a candidate that supports building new casinos) support the Aqueduct-only plan by an overwhelming margin (74% to 8%), suggesting that the Aqueduct-only casino plan would alleviate these voters concerns.

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Support for NYC Casino Proposals

Casino at Aqueduct and Six Casinos Outside NYC One proposal would allow for up to seven full-scale casinos to be built in New York State. Six of these casinos would be built outside of New York City. The seventh would upgrade the existing racetrack casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens into a full-scale casino, but would not build any new casinos in New York City Three Casinos Upstate and None in NYC One proposal would allow three new full-scale casinos to be built in upstate New York, but would not allow any new casinos to be built in New York City. Seven Casinos outside of NYC One proposal would allow for up to seven full-scale casinos to be built in New York State. All seven casinos would be built outside of New York City Three Casinos Upstate and Four in Future, Possibly in NYC One proposal would allow for up to seven full-scale casinos to be built in New York State. Three casinos would definitely be built in upstate New York, but this plan would also provide an option to build four additional casinos in the future, possibly including at sites within New York City Support Oppose

51%

43%

44% 43% 36%

50% 49% 58%