After going bust in the first go-around, prospective owners of a casino in the Southern Tier are being dealt a second hand but will it be good enough to cash in?


The state's gaming facility location board is reopening the bidding process for a casino license in the Southern Tier. The head of Tioga Downs, which is the only known contender for a Southern Tier license at this point, says he's hoping to hear within a couple of weeks what the board didn't like about his initial application. He says he can make some changes but that the population of the 50 mile radius of Tioga Downs is 600,000 people. Compare this to $2 million within a similar area around the Lago Resort in the Town of Tyre - which won a casino bid - and he can't put together a package as large as the $425 million Lago proposal.


"I have no idea. I need to try to find out what it was they didn't like about my proposal. If your question is, "Can I take my $200 million proposal and make it a $300 million proposal?' I can't," said Tioga Downs Owner Jeff Gural.


Since both groups lost out on a license, Traditions at the Glen is now throwing it's support behind Tioga Downs. Officials from both venues are holding a press conference Friday to discuss their joint efforts to bring a casino to the Southern Tier.