New York Casino: New York City is finally getting its casinos? Here’s a major development after 2013 constitutional amendment
Because conventional wisdom is that the state needs the revenue and licensing fees would generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue, the board will likely recommend that the remaining three competitors also obtain licenses.
After the five-person Location Board presents its recommendations to the state’s gaming commission, the commission will vote on those recommendations by the end of the month. The commission is expected to follow the board’s recommendations unless something unexpected and highly unusual occurs.
Gambling companies have been salivating for more than a decade to gain access to the country’s largest untapped casino market.
In 2013, New York state voters authorized a constitutional amendment allowing up to seven casinos in the state, with a maximum of three reserved for the New York City area. Four upstate casinos were given a one-year benefit. Now it’s New York’s turn.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo supported the expansion of casino gambling, arguing that it would spur economic development and that New York could also transfer to New York some of the tax revenue New York gamblers earned elsewhere.
Eight contestants took part in the state’s rigorous public review process. Ultimately, four managed to pass this stage, but one gave up early. Three bids remain for three licenses: Bally’s, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Resorts World New York City.
Bally’s is proposing to build a gambling complex and hotel in the Bronx, estimating that its development would attract more than 9 million visitors a year, generate nearly $400 million in annual tax revenue and support nearly 4,000 permanent jobs. The casino will also benefit President Donald Trump, who leases city-owned land where the resort will rise.
As part of the Trump Organization’s sale of its remaining shares in the site to Bally’s, the casino company promised to pay $115 million to the Trump Organization if it won a casino license.
Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets, has partnered with Hard Rock International on a proposal for Queens that developers claim would ultimately lead to more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue and more than 6,000 permanent jobs.
Resorts World New York City, part of a Malaysian entertainment group, plans to expand its existing electronic gaming outlet in Queens into a full-scale casino that it claims will create 5,000 permanent jobs and more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue. Research shows that such promises often do not come true.
