Gaming giant and real estate giant Putting all your chips in They are in the running to win one of three coveted licenses to operate casinos in or around New York City.
“There Still a huge market land-based casinos in this country, and particularly for the New York City metropolitan market,” Albany Law School professor Bennett Liebman, the governor’s former deputy secretary for gaming and racing, told The Post.
Gaming Interests Millions have already been spent As next year’s deadline to submit bids approaches, millions of dollars are being spent on lobbying and media consultants to make their case to local and state officials.
Here are the rich contenders:
Manhattan
Location: Hudson Yards
Name: Wynn New York City
Developer: The Related Companies/Wynn Resorts.
Description: a $12 billion casino complex that includes A hotel, office space, apartments and a 5.6-acre park
Advantages: Access to the adjacent Javits Convention Center, views of the Hudson River, access to the High Line
Opposition: Friends of the High Line are leading the community opposition; local elected officials are also not enthused with the project.
Location: Times Square
Name: Caesars Palace Times Square
Developer: Caesars Entertainment, SL Green and Jay-Z Roc Nation
Details: The $4 billion casino complex will be built at 1515 Broadway in the heart of Times Square.
Pros: Jay-Z handles the entertainment, and there's access to the Great White Way.
Opposition: Opposition from theater producers — the Broadway League — and the No Times Square Coalition that includes neighborhood groups
Location: Far West Side
Name: Avenir
Developer: Silverstein Properties/Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment
Details: World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein is leading the plan, which includes a 1.8 million-square-foot project for a hotel, casino, entertainment and residential complex on vacant land at West 41st Street and 11th Avenue, just north of the Jacob Javits Center.
Benefits: Like Wynn NYC, Avenir would boost the Javits Convention Center and the tourism industry.
Cons: Overcoming local opposition will be a challenge.
Location: Fifth Avenue
Name: Saks Fifth Avenue Casino
Developer: Saks Fifth Avenue and Hudson Bay Company
Description: The luxury department store, located at 611 Fifth Avenue between East 49th and East 50th Streets — next to St. Patrick's Cathedral — is looking to bring high-rollers to the home of high fashion on the top floors of its flagship building.
Benefit: Increased foot traffic on Fifth Avenue, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
Cons: Community opposition. It would take divine intervention to put a casino next to New York's most beloved Catholic church
Location: Midtown East River
Name: Freedom Plaza
Developer: Stepan Soloviev, owner of City Real Estate and Mohegan Sun
Details: Four towers along the East River, which will include apartments and hotels along with an underground casino
Benefits: The bid includes a “Freedom Museum” and a 6.7-acre 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, which already owns an existing slots parlor, has proposed a $5 billion plan that includes plans to expand its existing operations and offer live table games such as black jack and craps. The proposal includes a new 7,000-seat concert venue and sports training facility.
The benefits: Its slots parlor, which opened in 2011, has generated more than $4 billion for state coffers, and its bid also has local community and political support.
Cons: Resorts World Las Vegas — a separate casino that's part of the same Genting empire — has been embroiled in an alleged illegal betting scandal involving baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani's interpreter.
Location: Willets Points/Flushing Meadows/Corona
Name: Metropolitan Park
Developer: Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International
Description: A massive $8 billion gaming centerThe Mets' Citi Field is a hotel and music venue near the stadium.
Benefits: Part of an ongoing reclamation project to spruce up concrete parcels around Citi Field and Willets Point, a plan that separately includes a professional football stadium and housing. The project boasts 20 acres of green space and access to Flushing Bay.
Opposition: Cohen has not yet received approval from the state legislature to use the parkland property designated for the project as a casino entertainment complex, as local state senator Jessica Ramos opposes it. The plan could also hurt Genting Resort World in Aqueduct's existing slots business just a few miles away.
Brooklyn
Location: Coney Island
Name: The Coney
Developer: Thor Equities, Chickasaw Nation's Global Gaming Solutions, Saratoga Casino Holdings and Legends Hospitality Group
Description: The $3 billion “Coney” casino, hotel and convention hall is built just steps from the Brooklyn Boardwalk and beach, halfway between the site's iconic Cyclone and Wonder Wheel.
Benefit: Will help revive Coney Island as a major tourist destination
Opposition: Local Community Board 13 voted overwhelmingly against the project, with opponents saying they didn't want the iconic beach to be turned into Atlantic City.
The Bronx
Location: Ferry Point
Name: Bally's Casino
Developer: Baileys
Description: Baileys regained the lease Trump has signed a contract to run the golf course at Ferry Point on behalf of the Trump Organization and now wants to convert parts of the site’s parking lots and practice areas, which count as parkland, into a casino center.
Advantages: Located under 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, Bailey also needs legislative approval to convert park land to commercial use.
Nassau County, LI
Location: Uniondale
Name: Sands New York
Developer: Las Vegas Sands
Details: Sands obtained a lease from Nassau County to convert the Nassau Veterans Memorial Museum Coliseum into a casino complex that will include a live performance theater, a hotel and wellness spa, dining and conference space.
Advantages: Large Nassau-Suffolk market not far from the Queens border, strong support from Republican-led government
Opposition: Strong opposition led by nearby Hofstra University
Yonkers
Location: Yonkers Raceway
Name: Empire City
Developer: MGM Resorts International
Details: The raceway introduced slot-machine-style gaming with its Empire City Casino in 2006. Now it's aiming for a full-on gaming license with a $3 billion expansion plan that will offer live table bets.
Advantages: Like Resorts World at Aqueduct, it has a good record of success and local support.
Cons: Gaming expert Liebman calls MGM's initial proposal “extremely disappointing,” especially compared with the Hudson Yards, Cohen, Times Square and Sands proposals. “If other great proposals actually reach the gaming facility location board, can they compete?” he said of Yonkers.
Liebman and former state Racing and Betting Board Chairman John Sabini both told The Post that existing slots-parlor bidders in Aqueduct and Yonkers are “favorites” to win the two licenses.
Experts said both these companies have been tax-generating for the state for more than a decade and also enjoy strong political support at the local level.
Revenue from gaming companies that will be granted new casino licenses will help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“I would say Racinos is the favorite. They have a track record of being partners with the state for a long time,” Sabini said.
Experts say existing parlors may not be as successful, especially when their offerings are compared with other competing schemes.
But he said community and political opposition to other plans might outweigh the merits of the proposals.
“Every proposal will have opposition,” said Sabini, who was particularly skeptical that the Manhattan proposal would survive the review process.
Genting Resorts World spent $2.87 million last year trying to convince opponents in Albany of the merits of its plan.
Cohen and his partner also spent a combined total of more than $2.5 million on their scheme.
Given the hostility toward new casinos in Manhattan, both gaming experts considered Las Vegas Sands' bid a serious contender for the third license.
“The Sands proposal is probably the strongest proposal right now. Long Island/Nassau-Suffolk is a very good market,” Sabini said.
Proposals must receive a two-thirds vote from elected officials of local six-member community advisory committees before being considered by the statewide Gaming Facility Location Board and then the State Gaming Commission.
Liebman said Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams' recent political troubles, stemming from multiple federal investigations of his administration, are an “additional wildcard” that could impact the selection process.
The professor added, “If Adams, who is generally pro-casino, is no longer mayor and does not appoint a member of the advisory committee, won't that make the process even more difficult for most New York City-based casino projects?”
Winning bidders must pay the state a minimum license fee of $500 million upfront.
