The Gaming Industry is Booming

Spring is in the air, the sun is shining, and businesses are flowing back into New York City's business districts, a wonderful sign for the regional economy. As we peer into April, the Butler Associates team wants to share some extra exciting happenings in the news.

Sports betting is off to a red hot start in New York State, breaking the anticipated tax projections threefold! Nick Antenucci, Senior Counsel with Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, has been in the news media about the rapidly growing economic reach of sports betting in the Empire State, with New York Sports Day as part of a two-part series. Also stay tuned any time now for the announcement of the awarding of three new New York State casino licenses, where these new casinos are likely to be located, and how that will impact the surrounding communities.

As the 20th anniversary of the 2002 grand reopening of Lower Manhattan shopping mecca Century 21 took place, the Butler Team arranged the front cover of the Sunday Edition of the New York Daily News for our client Barasch & McGarry!

The article "Forgotten Vics of 9/11" told the story of store worker Lori Ellis and others who worked at the mega retailer two decades ago. As a result of exposure to toxins, hundreds among that workforce have been saddled with serious 9/11 related illnesses.

This incredible story was also chronicled internationally, making its way "across the pond," being featured in The Daily Mail.

Down in our nation's capitol, an opinion editorial by 9/11 legal advocate Michael Barasch, of Barasch & McGarry, was published by the Washington Times, on the $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan funds and how those might instead be used to benefit all 9/11 victims, following President Biden’s Executive Order redirecting this money. Back in Nueva York, Lou Coletti, President of New York’s Building Trades Employer's Association, was published by Crain's New York Business with his organization's insights on how to get New York's construction and real estate economy producing jobs and big economic results, post-pandemic. Lots of folks have tuned into HBO's hot series, The Gilded Age. It chronicles the so-called "struggles" of that era's "society leaders." Springboarding off that, Sean Crowley, Partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, highlights how the Gilded Age greed may just provide a payoff for modern day commuters across Brooklyn and Queens in opinion page editorials published in QNS and the Queens Chronicle.

On International Women's Day, the lead business story by MarketWatch was a feature on Siebert Williams Shank visionary President and CEO, Suzanne Shank, and how her team built one of the modern era's financial success stories.

The right for bars, restaurants, and any prepared food sellers, for that matter, to offer to-go drinks is a hotly contested issue in the news. In the Albany Times Union, Michael Correra, Executive Director of New York's Metropolitan Package Store Association, faced off in a debate with Scott Wexler, chief lobbyist for the Restaurant Association. This public policy issues weighs heavily on the future of New York's retail wine and liquor industry.

Correra also appeared prominently in a story on CBS TV to discuss the negative effects "liquor-to-go" would have on independently liquor stores across the state.

The often unheralded FDNY Fire Inspectors play a vital part in keeping New York City safe. But something unexpected took place recently. While inspecting a large Bronx building’s HVAC system, an inspector uncovered a loaded weapon hidden out of sight on that building's rooftop. That weapon had been missing and police determined it was connected to a prior shooting. News reports captured this as an important event as Oren Barzilay, president of the FDNY EMS Union, spotlighted this in news outlets including the Bronx Times.

This month the Butler Team also had over a dozen other news stories for and about the members of the FDNY EMS, including an editorial in the New York Post.

Listen Now!

Connor Shaw, Business Agent for CEED Local 420 spoke with Cannabis Radio's Grassroots Marketing show on the growth of the Cannabis Industry across several Northeast States and his union's role in assisting an orderly transition for Budtenders and cannabis engineers.

Announcements:

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron welcomes FOUR new attorneys across multiple practices as reported in Law360! New York's Clean Energy Jobs Coalition has stepped onto the scene announcing their formation in the spring. The Coalition seeks to take the lead in building a clean energy bridge to the future as New York pushes forth with its climate action council agenda mandated by environmental policy makers.