The Metropolitan Park casino project in Flushing remains fiercely contested, with a March 2026 lawsuit and a new congressional campaign opposing it.
On one side, there are the billionaire developers — Mets owner Steve Cohen, Hard Rock International, and by extension, as the latter’s global partner, Major Food Group, behind Carbone, the Grill, and Torrisi, among others, handling the restaurants. There’s also the state gaming commission, politicians, and unions banking on promised jobs. On the other stand local residents, some who oppose casinos, including community organizations and Asian and Latinx American immigrant restaurant owners who have felt disenfranchised throughout the casino approval process.
Some local business owners report feeling scorned. In 2023, Todd Leong, owner of Leaf Bar in Flushing, had an encounter with the Metropolitan Park team that was more “extractive” than “collaborative.” He attended a meeting that he had thought would focus on ways the community and casino could work together. He says it became apparent that the meeting’s host, BJH Advisors, was conducting “market research” through a questionnaire that asked about, for instance, his bar’s customer patterns. He refused to answer.
Major Food Group will be coordinating the planned 18 restaurants and bars, and 20-vendor food court.
The $8 billion joint venture proposes a 3.7-million-square-foot development — casino, music hall, hotel — next to Citi Field and 25 acres of rezoned public land. New infrastructure and housing are also part of the deal. Major Food Group would be coordinating the planned 18 restaurants and bars, and 20-vendor food court. The hospitality group operates a global luxury portfolio of 30 hotels (Newbury in Boston, the Boca Raton in Florida), residences (Villa Miami), private clubs (Crown Club inside Barclays Center) and restaurants including Carbone, Torrisi, and Sadelle’s. Major Food Group and Metropolitan Park did not respond to Eater’s inquiries about the project.
In 2013, after decades of casinos’ lobbying efforts to enter New York State, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo approved the build-out of four casinos upstate and after seven years, three downstate. In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul fast-tracked downstate licenses, kickstarting an application frenzy and record lobbying from casino bidders: $138 million in 2024. Last year, the NYS Gaming Commission approved licenses to Metropolitan Park and Resorts World in Queens, and Bally’s Corporation in the Bronx.
State senator Jessica Ramos’s office conducted a poll in which 75 percent of constituents responded said they do not want a casino in their neighborhood. Getty Images
According to a 2024 poll conducted by state senator Jessica Ramos’s office, 75 percent of constituents said they do not want a casino in their neighborhood; 84 percent favored an alternative park plan without a casino. An Urban Institute report stated that thousands of residents and businesses could be displaced by rent increases that typically follow a large-scale development.
Metropolitan Park, in particular, has been rife with political dealings and lobbying between legislators and casino developers: The industry spent over $2 million in 2024 and $1.92 million in the first half of 2025. The people who it may affect most have had the least say: the longtime local community of predominantly Hispanic and Asian immigrant residents who have felt silenced through official channels. Top concerns include residential and commercial displacement, gambling addiction, and environmental risks in the flood-prone area.
Many immigrant small business restaurateurs spoke on background for fear of retribution by a powerful pro-casino group. Owners, staff, and customers at decades-old restaurants — a Hong Kong bakery, a Cantonese roast meats shop,a steam-table spot, a deli — say they oppose the casino.
According to Flushing-based immigrant rights nonprofit Minkwon Center, 83.5 percent of participants felt excluded from the official public testimonial process.
According to Flushing-based immigrant rights nonprofit Minkwon Center, 83.5 percent of participants surveyed at four 2025 Election Day polling sites felt excluded from the official public testimonial process with the politically appointed six-member Community Advisory Committee (CAC). While the Caesars Palace Times Square CAC, which ultimately defeated its casino proposal, opened public hearings for 13 hours within a mile of the proposed site, the Metropolitan Park CAC held its hearings for five total hours, 5.7 miles from the site.
Guardians of Flushing Bay, fiscal sponsor of anti-casino group Flushing for Equitable Development and Urban Planning (FED-UP), shared affidavits sent to the NYS Gaming Commission with Eater. In these documents, CAC attendees recounted hearings that were front-loaded with pro-casino voices and that silenced the opposition. Separately, Senator Ramos pointed out paid canvassers at her town hall meetings.
The biggest sticking point for some local restaurant owners homes in on gambling addiction, a pervasive problem among the Asian immigrant working-class community. Out-of-state casinos have targeted this demographic with services like direct buses from Flushing. Despite research finding higher risk of gambling addiction the closer the casino’s location, the Metropolitan Park casino will be located in Flushing, complete with an “Asian gaming area.”
The owner of a long-standing Korean barbecue spot in Murray Hill has witnessed gambling addiction among his friends and neighbors. “I care about them. But also, if they gamble away their social security and pension, they’re not able to come to my restaurant anymore.”
Residents opposed to the casino project at a protest. Caroline Shin
Could the casinos actually help local restaurants?
Dian Yu, executive director of the Flushing BID, supports the casino, believing that its planned Skypark, a pedestrian-bicycle bridge connecting downtown Flushing to Metropolitan Park, would encourage hotel guests to visit Flushing’s restaurant scene. Sam Lin, manager of Yoi Sushi, says he sees a sales bump on Mets and U.S. Open game days.
Kay Chun, owner of Northern King Dumpling in Flushing, has mixed opinions. While she also hopes for tourist-driven sales gains, she’s worried that her landlord will raise the rent to something unaffordable.
Metropolitan Park will usher in dining options within its entertainment complex. Some Queens-based restaurant owners look forward to vendor opportunities inside the food hall.
Jonathan Forgash, founder of food relief nonprofit Queens Together, says that the project will create some winners, but it will likely take business from local restaurants.
Fulton Hou, second-generation Flushing restaurant supplier and FED-UP organizer, fears it’s supercharging breakneck development in Flushing, currently home to the Special Flushing Waterfront District luxury development, Willets Point project, and Etihad Park soccer stadium, with the Westin Hotel opening last year.
Hou noted the fast clip of closings of his favorite mom-and-pop restaurants — Bally deli; Star Bakery; New Flushing Bakery, a beloved egg tart spot — in the past couple years.
“If a [chain restaurant] comes in and drives a crazy amount of lines out the door, that’s still good for Flushing,” he says. “But we also need guardrails — like commercial rent freezes — to protect these small businesses.”