New York Chinatown fears impact of $8bn casino development, calling it ‘predatory project’ | New York

HEOn Main Street in Flushing’s Chinatown, shoppers weave between fruit stands, restaurants and family-owned businesses that have served the New York City neighborhood for decades. But behind the hustle and bustle, many residents fear the working-class immigrant community is under threat from an $8 billion casino project that could displace thousands of tenants and force small businesses to close.

“A predatory project is being embarked on that is disproportionately harming our community, our people,” said Jack Hu, 37, a Flushing resident and member of the No Casinos in Flushing Meadows Corona Park campaign. “This community is truly upset about this project and how it was implemented without our approval.”

Metropolitan Park is a casino and entertainment project backed by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International through Queens Future LLC. The project will transform the parking lots next to Citi Field in Willets Point into a casino, hotel, restaurants, entertainment district and public park between the Flushing and Corona neighborhoods.

Studies have found that Chinese immigrant communities have higher rates of problem gambling than the general population. This is due to a number of issues, including cultural beliefs about luck and luck, immigration-related stresses and isolation, barriers to accessing mental health services, and casino marketing targeting Chinese-speaking customers.

In Flushing, the community already bears the brunt of gambling addiction, and some residents said a casino on its doorstep could make matters worse, especially among the elderly population.

“This is a working-class community, and the Metropolitan Park casino will make fortunes from the most vulnerable,” said Hu, who said his father had a gambling addiction that he developed shortly after immigrating to the United States. “Casino operators use things like food coupons, free bus coupons, free gambling coupons to attract working-class Asians to casinos so they can get their money.”

In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Park said: “We take seriously our responsibility to be a good neighbor and a good partner. Metropolitan Park has over $1 billion in community outreach. This includes a community impact fund and dedicated funding for responsible play, addiction and mental health services.”

The project also includes Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities; Hamilton-Madison House, which operates clinical mental health services; Korean Community Services; The Korean American Family Service Center aims to create “culturally sensitive and community-adapted addiction services,” the spokesperson said.

According to the Urban Institute, a D.C.-based think tank that focuses on economic and social policy research, the Metropolitan Park proposal displaced almost 16,000 tenants They spend more than half their income on housing in Corona and Flushing due to rising rents.

“This will make the whole town worse. Gambling is not a good thing, people get addicted,” said Xiang, a bakery worker who moved to Queens from China seven years ago. “Tourists can bring money, but the casino can also bring problems here.”

A spokesperson for Metropolitan Park said: “A comprehensive environmental impact study (EIS) was conducted, which found that Metropolitan Park would not directly displace existing businesses or residents. This study was reviewed and accepted by the city planning commission.”

Many business owners in the community have recently been affected by the Trump administration’s sanctions against China, making imported goods more expensive. Some residents said many of those businesses could also be displaced if commercial rents increase because of the casino.

Area residents also expressed doubt that casino visitors would patronize Flushing’s independent businesses and that the resort would have its own restaurants and amenities. They cited limited spread from nearby Citi Field and the U.S. Open as evidence, saying that brings too few sports fans to the neighborhood.

“If you look here, you only see locals,” Hu said. “There’s no one coming here and leaving a large amount of money at a local restaurant. These events don’t bring business to Flushing.”

A new poll shared exclusively with the Guardian found that 61 percent of Democratic voters in New York’s sixth congressional district oppose the project, compared with 20 percent who support it. The remaining 19 percent said they were undecided.

The survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling in June. It was commissioned by Democratic congressional candidate Chuck Park as part of a broader survey conducted during his campaign for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent representative Grace Meng in New York’s sixth congressional district primary in June. Park ultimately lost the nomination to Meng, who had represented the district in Congress since 2013.

Separately, Park said he knocked on the doors of 6,000 residents during his campaign, many of whom voiced their objections to the casino with him.

“We heard over and over again that people didn’t want the casino. This was a mix of really socially conservative first-generation immigrants who thought the casino would lead to crime, human trafficking and major quality of life problems,” Park said. “We also heard from young progressive left activists that this casino was given as public land to a billionaire who wanted to make himself even richer.”

Supporters of the casino during the project’s public approval process in March 2025 told The New York City council stated that Metropolitan Park was “actively engaging with community leaders” and that community involvement was central to the proposal. The project won one of New York’s three upstate casino licenses in December 2025.

“With nearly four years of community engagement, more than 30 public meetings, and approvals from six community boards, city council, state legislature, community advisory committee, and gaming commission, Metropolitan Park has been subject to one of the most rigorous and transparent public reviews of any project. The community’s voice has been heard, and their message is clear: They want Metropolitan Park,” said a spokesperson for the project.

“Metropolitan Park will be an economic game changer for the local community, with more than 23,000 new jobs, a signature food hall in Queens, and expected local spending of over $100 million annually.”

Casino developers underline that they have adopted a “community first” approach in the project of the Metropolitan Park project. websiteand claims the project will provide jobs, green space and entertainment for residents.

“Casinos are the worst form of aggressive taxation,” Park said. “They attract low-income members of local communities. They get them addicted to gambling and then they just milk them for money.”

The casino project received major support from state Senator John Liu. introduced Last year, Senate Bill S7121A, known as the “parkland alienation” bill, would allow local governments to sell or reuse public parkland for non-park uses. Critics say Cohen’s project may never be implemented without legislation being signed into law. Liu was able to introduce the bill because a small area of ​​the proposed project falls in the 16th Senate district he represents.

In exchange for the parkland alienation bill, Cohen promised to build a bridge similar to Manhattan’s High Line, connecting downtown Flushing to Willets Point, which Liu dubbed the “Flushing Skypark.”

“Given the inevitability of three casinos in NYC as a result of the 2012 state referendum, all within a stone’s throw of Senator Liu’s district, he has appropriately shifted his focus to mitigating potential harms and maximizing public benefits to his constituents,” Liu’s spokesperson said. “Senator Liu appreciates the passion of some advocates in opposing the casino, but has received many more requests to allow the proposal to be submitted for consideration by the gaming commission.”

Public campaign financial records It shows that Liu received a $5,000 donation in 2025 from the political education political action group committee of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council. Pac receives majority of donations financing Hotel and Gaming Trades Council (HTC) labor union.

“Senator Liu is proud to have received significant support for more than two decades from a union that has been particularly successful in fighting for record wage and benefit increases for its members, the majority of whom are immigrant women of color,” his spokesperson said.

Liu’s move was met with backlash, including protests from the community. A year ago, in 2024, Liu penned an op-ed in the Daily News stating that three New York casino projects would cause “disproportionate harm” to “this historically marginalized and increasingly vulnerable community.”

“It is clear that Asian Americans are in their sights,” Liu said of casino developers in the article.

Liu’s spokesman said: “Senator Liu has been clear that he is opposed to casinos and gambling anywhere in general, but if the casinos are actually to be located downtown (a decision made in a voter referendum in 2012), the maximum amount of public benefit should be provided. Senator Liu negotiated under the assumption that the casinos would be located in the Mets district or other locations very close to the Asian community.”

Hu, who has watched his father struggle with gambling for more than thirty years, fears that a casino in his neighborhood will deepen his father’s addiction.

“He wants to keep some hope of becoming rich,” said Hu, whose family moved from Guangzhou to Flushing in the 1980s. “It’s like you grew up with nothing your whole life. You come here to build a better life for yourself and your family, and the people who tell you that you can get rich quick are the kind of people who fall victim to these predatory businesses.”