Six pay $1M Aqueduct entry fee

For what everyone concerned hopes is the final time, six bidders for the Aqueduct Racino broke from the gate recently.

Representatives of the groups that anted up the $1 million entry fee sat in a VIP lounge on Tuesday, June 8, as Lottery Director Gordon Medenica explained what they were getting for their money, before taking a private tour of the Ozone Park track.

Medenica made several things clear to distinguish this bidding process from its ill-fated predecessors – notably that “no lobbying will be permitted” during the process, that all proposals will be made public (except for sensitive proprietary information) and that within legal principles, the $300 million up-front payment will be “non-refundable.”