NYC is Getting Three Casinos

It’s official: New York City is getting three casinos.

The state’s Gaming Commission on Monday conditionally approved granting casino licenses to the three proposals that cleared a key board this month, bringing to a close a years-long competition that once included a dozen visions for facilities throughout the city.

The winners are Steve Cohen’s Metropolitan Park, an $8 billion facility planned near Citi Field; the proposed $4 billion complex at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point; and Resorts World’s $7.5 billion expansion of the Queens Aqueduct. The Commission, however, only approved the facilities on the condition that the companies agree to have an independent monitor to ensure that they adhere to the various promises they made to their respective communities.

After the meeting, Commission Chair Brian O’Dwyer said the independent monitor will track pledges made by the casino teams, both within and outside their formal applications.

“[If] the monitor tells us that there has not been substantial compliance with every single thing that they have promised, {it] comes back to us for further consideration, up to and including the revocation of the license,”
O’Dwyer said. “We’re holding their feet to the fire.”

He said the state will hear from the monitor on a quarterly basis for at least five years, and will be watching how the teams ensure that the projects benefit their surrounding communities. He said diversity is important to the commission, a nod to concerns previously raised by officials that none of the proposals made binding commitments to hire a diverse workforce.

The Commission’s decision was largely expected, though leaders have emphasized that the process wasn’t simply a rubber stamp. The Commission was tasked with ensuring the proposals met statutory licensing requirements, following approval by the five-member Gaming Facility Location Board this month.

The terms of the licenses were determined by the expected investment each team is expected to make. Bally’s and Resorts World will have an initial licensing term of 15 years, while Metropolitan Park’s will last 20 years. O’Dwyer indicated that the Commission or the casino teams may select the independent monitors, though the Commission will ultimately need to sign off on whoever is hired.

Years-long process

Monday’s approval was more than a decade in the making. Voters approved a change to the state constitution in 2013, allowing for up to seven casinos to open throughout New York, with four upstate and three downstate.

The state awarded the four licenses upstate within a few years. In 2022, the state legislature added a new feature to the downstate approvals, requiring proposals to receive two-thirds support from Community Advisory Committees, a body of five to six members appointed by city, state and local officials.

Before reaching that stage, some competitors dropped out when it became clear that they couldn’t secure the necessary local support. Eight bids ultimately competed, and the CACs only approved half, eliminating every Manhattan and Brooklyn proposal. In October, MGM Resorts quit the race, citing shifting “competitive and economic assumptions” underpinning its bid to turn its Yonkers facility into a full-fledged casino.

That left three teams to potentially each snag a license.

The state’s consultants estimate that the trio could generate $7 billion in incremental gaming tax revenue from 2027 to 2036, as well as $5.9 billion in other local and state taxes. Critics, however, have pointed out that the upstate casinos have not met their initial revenue and tax targets.

In its report, the Gaming Facility Location Board expressed concern that teams would backtrack or otherwise fail to keep the promises they made to advance in the casino competition. The board also pointed out that Resorts World overestimated its annual tax revenue projections, pegging them at more than $1 billion in revenue each year. The board’s consultants projected revenue would total more than $4 billion over a decade.

The winners

At Metropolitan Park, Cohen and Hard Rock International plan to turn 50 acres worth of parking lots next to Citi Field into a casino complex with nearly 300,000 square feet of gaming space, a 1,000-room hotel, a 5,650-person live music venue, restaurants and 25 acres of green space.

The team also pledged, in partnership with Slate Property Group, to build 450 affordable housing units at 54-19 100th Street in Corona, roughly two miles away from the casino.

The Bally’s casino will be built on 16 acres of parking lots and practice green at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point. The project is expected to include 3,500 gaming machines, 250 table games, 500 hotel rooms and a 2,000-seat entertainment venue.

As a result of Bally’s securing a license, the Trump Organization is also a winner. When it acquired the golf course’s lease from the Trump Organization in 2023, Bally’s agreed to pay Trump $115 million if it won a license.

At the Queens Aqueduct, Resorts World plans to add 6,000 slot machines and 800 table games, as well as 2,000 hotel rooms and a 7,000-seat arena. The company has also agreed, through an agreement with Cirrus Real Estate, to invest in 50,000 workforce housing units citywide.

Resorts World expects to open a full-fledged gaming facility in March 2026, and then complete the expanded complex in 2031. Bally’s and Metropark are expected to open in mid-2030. In its report, however, the state board noted that these projections seemed ambitious and might be overly optimistic, given various regulatory and construction challenges.

The meeting on Monday was briefly interrupted by protestors who shouted “Shame on you! Hochul must go!” as they filed out of the room. One of the protestors alluded to legal action, saying “This isn’t over! We’ll see you in court.”