Former governor David Paterson was back in Albany on Tuesday to push for a New York City casino built by Sands in Las Vegas. Sands is one of several casino operators trying to speed up a timetable for casino gaming in the five boroughs, which is currently not set to begin until 2023.

“I think as long as the government has the power to do it, which it does, I think it would be an incredible idea,” said Paterson.

But Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a news conference threw cold water on the idea, saying it would hurt the four upstate casinos already in existence.

“Long term, you’re still hurting the competitiveness of the upstate casinos because this was always the point: We wanted the person driving from Queens upstate if they wanted to go to a casino,” Cuomo said.

The state budget is due in less than two weeks and state lawmakers are hopeful for a deal by the end of the month.

“We all committed that we want to get it done, we want to get it done on time, I would say it was a very good meeting,” said Carl Heastie, (D) Assembly speaker.

But Cuomo is not so sure, pointing to a protracted difference over the Legislature wanting to spending more on items like education.

“It's difficult on the numbers. We have a very large gap between our budget and the Assembly budget and the Senate budget,” said Cuomo.

Cuomo has said in the past that an on-time budget is key to showing how government can function. This year, he's not publicly committing to having one done on time.