From here, local committees will decide if these applications move forward — proposals must get at least two-thirds of the vote to continue competing. The state Gaming Facility Location Board will ultimately decide which of those applications receive the licenses. Metropolitan Park, which would build a casino near Citi Field, overcame opposition from local state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-13) when legislation rezoning public land to allow commercial development overwhelmingly passed the state legislature in May, a major hurdle. Metropolitan Park has promised the community a 25-acre public park, new shops and restaurants and a full-scale redevelopment of the Mets-Willets Point subway station. A version of the $11.1 billion, 6.3-acre proposal — situated between 38th and 41st Streets east of First Ave. — was first introduced in February 2023 and has undergone several revisions since.
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Hudson Yards West — whose partnership also includes the Oxford Properties Group — would provide 35,000 union construction jobs and 5,000 permanent careers in the resort, planners claim. Plus, a major gaming company has won a competitive bid for a multiyear agreement to produce Monopoly-based slot machine games. If the gaming license were denied, the rezoning would be overturned — meaning developers would not be able to use the decision to build a non-casino facility. Hard Rock International, which is owned by Florida’s Seminole Tribe, spans for over 300 locations including hotels, casinos, shops, performance venues and cafes. The remaining contenders are proposing developments in Times Square, Queens, and Hudson Yards, with each company aiming to capitalize on what is well-known as a lucrative market in New York. The New York Gaming Commission is also expected to award the three downstate licenses by the end of 2025.
The bid to bring a casino to Times Square has the backing of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and a number of labor unions, and just this week got the blessing of Rev. Al Sharpton — but still faces local pushback, particularly from the theater industry. The $4 billion proposal would see a Midtown office tower converted into an entertainment hub with a casino, nightclubs, restaurants and a five-star hotel with nearly 1,000 rooms. The development team has dangled sweeteners ranging from a promised $5 million donation to a local LGBTQ+ clinic to offering low-cost investment opportunities. The $4 billion pitch to build a 500,000-square foot gaming complex and a 500-room hotel in Ferry Point Park recently cleared a key municipal hurdle, but still faces others. The https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212002555 city-owned golf course Bally’s operates on the site, plus the parking lot and clubhouse, would all have to be cleared to make way for the development, which would include new golf facilities and green space.
Eight finalists submitted formal plans for a NYC-area casino license. Here’s how they’d look.
"It is, you know, still very early in the planning board’s process right now. We just received the site plan application about, you know, early https://dev1-etienne.dyjix.fr/?p=19087 in June. So we’re very early in our review process on that," said Hampton Town Planner Jason Bachand. Primm Valley, owned by Affinity Gaming, added that Buffalo Bill’s would still host concerts and special events at its Star of the Desert Arena. Buffalo Bill’s casino, food and beverage, and hotel will operate during those times, Affinity Gaming told the Times on Wednesday morning. “In order to deliver the best possible experience for today’s guest expectations, Buffalo Bill’s will be shifting its 24/7 operations to Primm Valley Resort & Casino,” the company said in a release Tuesday afternoon, referring to the sister resort adjacent to Buffalo Bill’s. Sometimes they’ll move from the river to land, they might be imploded to make room for something fresh and new, or what may have seemed like a great concept just can’t make the numbers and closes after a year.
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The Avenir recently announced plans to partner with Hyatt for its luxury hotel and offers to build 100 permanently affordable apartments as part of the development. But that is far fewer than the 1,500 housing units the Hudson Yards West team proposed before it was scrapped. The Coney, a proposal for a Coney Island casino, similarly pledged https://cima-ev.de/de/wettanbieter-ohne-lugas-2025-3/ a $200 community trust — managed by local stakeholders — as well as promising community revitalization with hotel space, restaurants, public open space and a convention center. Each of the projects boast about how their casino will uniquely bolster New York City’s economy and help the affordability crisis through investment and tax revenue. Despite early promises, the casino race remains wide open, with the three winners sure to reshape the city’s socioeconomic landscape.
- The Las Vegas Sands (LVS) casino resort has officially withdrawn its bid for developing a $4 billion resort at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, revealing a landslide shift in the New York downstate gaming license competitive landscape.
- The $4 billion proposal would see a Midtown office tower converted into an entertainment hub with a casino, nightclubs, restaurants and a five-star hotel with nearly 1,000 rooms.
- The legalization may pose some risks for brick-and-mortar casinos and the broader gaming industry as it exists, but it can also create opportunities for the tech industry to thrive by building new platforms.
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LVS announced its decision on April 23, 2025, reducing the number of contenders significantly. The $11 billion plan for “Freedom Plaza” calls for a below-grade casino, two hotels and 1,049 housing units, of which 513 would be below market-rate, on a vacant site along the East River near the United Nations. The proposal also includes a Museum of Freedom and Democracy, and five acres of green space. Existing racinos in Flushing and Yonkers may have an edge in the competition, but that remains to be seen. At the very least, they appear to face less opposition from local elected officials than some of their competitors.
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In addition, the spokesman explained that Buffalo Bill’s hotel rooms and the property’s restaurants would be open when there are concerts in the Star of the Desert Arena. Primm resorts owner Affinity Gaming says it’ll still have some special events at the property’s Star of the Desert Arena later this year. "It think it would definitely increase your revenue and the amount of people coming down here," said Rebecca, visiting from Minnesota. The rezoning would allow The Coney, if it receives a license, to build three towers between 153 and 402 feet tall. Those towers would be connected by two large “floating” pedestrian bridges across Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street. In a statement, Brannan told Brooklyn Paper it was “not up to me alone” to determine whether there was enough support for the casino.
On the other hand, it intensifies the competition among the remaining nine rivals seeking the three licenses. The Las Vegas company’s drop from the race primarily stems from concerns about more states legalizing online gambling, which they believe would add too much pressure. Metropolitan Park is one of the few casino proposals with the open support of local community boards, and it also has the backing of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
The state has recently introduced the Senate Bill (SB) S2614 sponsored by Senator Joseph Addabbo, which proposes that the net revenue generated by online casinos licensed in New York charge operators a 30.5% tax. The licensing fee will also cost new operators $2 million, making it unlikely that there will be much competition for land-based casinos. The New York Gaming Commission confirms that the existing casino landscape supports over 70,000 jobs, highlighting the potential for massive employment gains when a new casino of LSV’s stature rises. The projected tax revenues were also high, with some experts believing that the added revenue would have contributed significantly to public interests.
Addabbo praises start of downstate casino license process, calls for transparency and economic focus
The Trump tariffs 2025 also marked a nationwide recession market crash, which isn’t limited to the state of New York. Undoubtedly, the resilient and investment-led state will find ways to close the gap left by the LSV withdrawal. New York always finds new sources of public funding and considers other economic development plans. The LVS withdrawal will have some implications for the wider New York state and its gaming landscape, even though the remaining applications include Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, and Genting’s Resorts World. All of the remaining contenders will have better opportunities to obtain one of the three downstate licenses available now.