Gaming giants and real estate moguls are pushing hard to secure one of three coveted licenses to operate casinos in or near New York City.
“There's still a big market for land-based casinos in this country, particularly in the New York City metropolitan area,” Bennett Liebman, a former assistant secretary to the governor for gaming and racing who is now a professor at Albany Law School, told The Washington Post.
The gambling industry is already spending millions of dollars on lobbying and media consultants to make its case to local and state officials as next year's bid deadline approaches.
The well-funded candidates are:
Manhattan
Location: Hudson Yards
Name: Wynn New York City
Developer: Related Companies/Wynn Resorts.
Details: $12 billion casino complex includes hotel, office space, apartments and a 5.6-acre park
Pros: Access to adjacent Javits Convention Center, Hudson River views, access to the High Line
Cons: Friends of the High Line have led the local opposition, and local elected officials aren't enthusiastic about the project either.
Location: Times Square
Name: Caesars Palace Times Square
Developer: Caesars Entertainment, SL Green, Jay-Z Roc Nation
Details: A $4 billion casino complex will be built at 1515 Broadway, in the heart of Times Square.
Pros: Jay-Z curates the entertainment and you have access to the Great White Way.
Cons: Opposition from the Coalition Against Times Square, which includes theater producers (the Broadway League) and neighborhood groups.
Location: Far West Side
Name: Avenir
Developer: Silverstein Properties/Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment
Details: World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein is spearheading the plan, which includes building a 1.8 million-square-foot hotel, casino, entertainment and residential complex on vacant land at West 41st Street and 11th Avenue, just north of the Jacob Javits Center.
Pros: Like the Wynn NYC, the Avenir will help revitalize the Javits Convention Center and the tourism industry.
Cons: Local opposition is difficult to overcome.
Location: 5th Avenue
Name: Saks Fifth Avenue Casino
Developer: Saks Fifth Avenue and Hudson's Bay Company
Details: The luxury department store at 611 Fifth Avenue between East 49th and East 50th Streets, next to St. Patrick's Cathedral, is hoping to lure big-spending customers to its high-fashion hub on the top floors of its flagship building.
Pros: Increased foot traffic on Fifth Avenue, a street hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic
Cons: Local opposition. It would take divine intervention to build a casino next to New York's most beloved Catholic church.
Location: Midtown East River
Name: Freedom Plaza
Developer: City real estate heir Stefan Soloviev and Mohegan Sun
Read more: Four towers to be built along the East River, including apartments and a hotel with an underground casino
Pros: The bid includes a “Freedom Museum” and 6.7 acres of green space.
Cons: Opposition from local politicians
Queens
Location: South Ozone Park – Jamaica
Name: Resorts World New York City at Aqueduct
Developer: Genting/Resorts World Casino
Details: The bidder, who already owns the existing slot parlor, has proposed a $5 billion plan that includes a proposal to expand current operations and also offer live table games such as blackjack and craps. The proposal includes a new 7,000-seat concert venue and sports training facility.
Pros: The slot parlour, which opened in 2011, has generated more than $4 billion in revenue for state coffers, and the bid has strong local community and political support.
Cons: Another casino that's part of the same Genting empire, Resorts World Las Vegas, has been embroiled in an illegal gambling scandal involving the interpreter for baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Location: Willets Point/Flushing Meadows/Corona
Name: Metropolitan Park
Developer: Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International
Details: A sprawling $8 billion gaming center, hotel and music venue near the Mets' Citi Field stadium.
Pros: Part of an ongoing infill project to clear the concrete lots around Citi Field and Willets Point, with separate plans for a pro soccer stadium and housing. The project touts 20 acres of green space and access to Flushing Bay.
Cons: Cohen has yet to get approval from the state Legislature to convert the designated park land targeted for the project into a casino entertainment complex, due to opposition from local state Sen. Jessica Ramos. The plan also could hurt the existing slots operation at Genting Resorts World at Aqueduct, located just a few miles away.
Brooklyn
Location: Coney Island
Name: Connie
Developers: Thor Equities, Chickasaw Nation's Global Gaming Solutions, Saratoga Casino Holdings, Legends Hospitality Group
Details: The $3 billion “Connie” casino, hotel and convention hall has been built between the site's iconic Cyclone and Wonder Wheels, just steps from Brooklyn's famous boardwalk and beaches.
Pros: It would help revitalize Coney Island as a major tourist destination.
Opposition: Local Community Board 13 voted overwhelmingly against the project, arguing opponents don't want the iconic beach to turn into Atlantic City.
Bronx
Location: Ferry Point
Name: Bally's Casino
Developer: Bally's
Details: Bally's has acquired the lease to operate the Ferry Point golf course from the Trump Organization and hopes to convert some of the site's parking and driving range, which currently count as parkland, into a casino center.
Pros: Located at the foot of the Whitestone Bridge, the casino is easily accessible from Queens, the Bronx, Long Island, and Westchester County. Waterfront views of the East River and Long Island Sound.
Cons: Like the Cohen project, Bally's would need legislative approval to convert the park to commercial use.
Nassau County, Long Island
Location: Uniondale
Name: Sands New York
Developer: Las Vegas Sands
Details: The Sands won a lease from Nassau County to transform the Nassau Veterans Memorial Museum Coliseum into a casino complex with a live performance theater, hotel, wellness spa, dining and convention space.
Pros: Large Nassau-Suffolk market near the Queens border; strong support from a Republican-led government
Cons: Strong opposition led by nearby Hofstra University
Yonkers
Location: Yonkers Raceway
Name: Empire City
Developer: MGM Resorts International
Details: Raceway introduced slot machine-style games at Empire City Casino in 2006. Now the company is seeking a full gaming license with a $3 billion expansion plan that will offer live table betting.
Pros: Like Resorts World at Aqueduct, it has a proven track record of success and local support.
Cons: Gaming expert Liebman called MGM's initial proposal “disappointing,” especially compared to the Hudson Yards, Cohen, Times Square and Sands proposals. “If other, more flashy proposals actually get submitted to the Gaming Facilities Siting Board, will they be able to compete?” he said of Yonkers.
Both Liebman and John Savini, former chairman of the state Horse Racing and Wagering Commission, told The Post that existing slot parlor bidders in Aqueduct and Yonkers were the “top contenders” to win two of the licenses.
Experts point out that both companies have been tax revenue generators for the state for more than a decade and have strong local political support.
Revenues from gaming companies that are granted new casino licenses will help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“I think 'Racetrack' has an advantage. They have a long history of partnering with the state,” Savini said.
Experts said an existing parlour might not be a sure bet, especially when its proposal is compared with some of the more attractive competing plans.
But local and political opposition to other plans could outweigh the merits of the proposal, they said.
“There will be opposition to any proposal,” said Mr. Savini, who was particularly skeptical of the Manhattan proposal that made it through the review process.
Genting Resorts World spent $2.87 million lobbying in Albany last year trying to convince opponents of the plan's merits.
Cohen and his partners also spent a combined total of more than $2.5 million promoting the plan.
Given Manhattan's hostility toward new casinos, both gambling experts rated Las Vegas Sands' bid as the favorite to win the third license in the race.
“The Sands proposal is probably the strongest proposal out there right now. Long Island/Nassau/Suffolk is a pretty good market,” Savini said.
The proposal would need to secure a two-thirds vote from local elected officials on a six-member Community Advisory Board before it could be considered by the statewide Gaming Sites Committee and then the State Gaming Commission.
Liebman said New York City Mayor Eric Adams' recent political troubles, sparked by multiple federal investigations into his administration, have created “new uncertainty” that could affect the selection process.
“With Adams, who is generally a supporter of casinos, stepping down as mayor and not appointing members to the advisory committee, I suspect the process will become much more difficult for most New York City-based casino projects,” he said.
The winning bidder would have to pay the state an upfront license fee of at least $500 million.
