Governor Hochul must reject casino revenue plan after successful congestion toll implementation

Scare New York electeds off one bad idea and they’ll immediately batten on another: Witness the cadre of state Assembly members demanding a fast track for the state’s new casino licenses to make up for the revenue lost from the now-dead congestion tolls.

Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-Mt. Vernon), who co-chairs the Racing and Wagering Committee, is vocal about the need to get the gambling dens up and running as soon as possible.

“We have to bring the casino deals to fruition — the MTA needs the money,” he told The Post; co-chair state Sen. Joe Addabo (D-Queens) is equally eager to start stacking chips.

So they and others want Hochul’s John Hancock on a just-passed Assembly bill to grease the license-awarding path.

The MTA may need cash, but ramming through casino deals to provide it has got to be among the worst ideas yet to come from our legislative overlords — and it has some very stiff competition.

First off, the licensing process stinks to high heaven: The heavy wallets of the bidders — for the licenses in question, the minimum expected bid is $500 million on up to heaven knows how much — draw greedy pols like trash draws flies.

The fat-cat gaming operators and real-estate firms in play for the licenses have a huge incentive to cough up big for the campaign coffers of politicians with influence over the process.

And indeed the list of would-be operators reads like a rolodex of the connected and powerful: Steves Cohen and Wynn, Related Cos., SL Green and Caesars.

Cohen has handed Gov. Hochul megabucks; so has SL Green chief Marc Holliday.

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