NY Facility Location Board extends downstate casino bid deadline to June 2025
New York law allows for three downstate casinos – brick-and-mortar facilities at commercial locations in and around New York City. There are currently 11 bidders interested in putting casinos everywhere from Times Square to Brooklyn. Bidders are offering up resorts, housing units and neighbourhood improvements as they lobby for support.
Senator Joe Addabbo’s bill (S9673A) passed through the house and senate in early June, but Hochul has not signed it.
If approved, the legislation would require bidders to submit proposals by the end of the summer. Facility location board members said they thought the timeline was too tight. It doesn’t appear getting the bids early would impact the goal of issuing licences by the end of 2025.
August 2024 deadline unreasonable
At Thursday’s meeting, board members acknowledged that they were making a decision that is in conflict with S9673A. Because bids cannot be reviewed until all “entitlements and zoning” are approved, the board views the current deadline as unreasonable.
Board chair Vicki Been said with regard to pushing out the downstate casinos bid deadline, “the hope would be that our reasoning will be helpful to the governor”. Reading between the lines, the message is this: politicians may want a quicker deadline, but that would be impractical.
Bidders must have zoning changes in place, as well as have environmental impact studies completed before bids can be reviewed. In at least two cases – the Bally’s Bronx proposal and Steve Cohen’s Queens proposal – the sites must be rezoned to allow casinos. The sites are currently designated as parkland. Both have been pushing local and state boards for the rezoning, but neither site designation has been changed yet.
Board member Stuart Rabinowitz acknowledged that should Hochul sign the bill, a new law would usurp the facility location board’s decision.
List of downstate casino proposals currently at 11
So far the list of proposals for the casino licenses includes both commercial and tribal operators. The proposals and their developers and operators include:
- Project name: Avenir; Developer: Silverstein Properties; Casino Operator: Greenwood Gaming; Borough: Manhattan
- Project name: Bally’s Links at Ferry Point; Developer and Casino Operator: Bally’s Corporation; Borough: The Bronx
- Project name: Caesars Palace Times Square; Developers: Caesars Entertainment, SL Green, Roc Nation; Casino Operator: Caesars Entertainment; Borough: Manhattan
- Project name: The Coney; Developers: Thor Equities, Legends Entertainment, the Chickasaw Nation, Saratoga Casino Holdings; Casino Operator: Saratoga Casino Holdings; Borough: Brooklyn
- Project name: Freedom Plaza; Developer: Soloviev Group; Casino Operator: Mohegan Gaming; Borough: Manhattan
- Project name: Metropolitan Park; Developer: Steven Cohen; Casino Operator: Hard Rock International; Borough: Queens
- Project name: MGM Empire City; Developer and Casino Operator: MGM Resorts International; City: Yonkers
- Project name: Resorts World New York City; Developer and Casino Operator: Genting Group; Borough: Queens
- Project name: Sands New York; Developer and Casino Operator: Las Vegas Sands; Borough: Long Island, Nassau County
- Project name: Saks Fifth Avenue; Developer: Hudson’s Bay Company; Casino Operator: to be determined; Borough: Manhattan
- Project name: Wynn New York City; Developers: Related Companies, Oxford Properties Group; Casino Operator: Wynn Resorts; Borough: Manhattan