![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ac492d56087235236a7dba8ae5d9d8ebf5-EMP153582023.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n And then there were three.
\n Photo: MGM\n <\/p>\n
MGM unexpectedly withdrew<\/a> its casino bid on Tuesday, whittling down the competition<\/a> for the three coveted licenses in downstate New York to just, well, three. The company, which owns the Empire City Casino and Yonkers Raceway, claimed that the abrupt about-face was a financial calculation: The apparent return on building a full-blown casino at a cost of $2.3 billion didn\u2019t look as good as it did when the company submitted its proposal in June. \u201cThe competitive and economic assumptions underpinning our application have shifted,\u201d MGM said in a statement.<\/p>\n So, who\u2019s still at the table? Mets owner and hedge-fund titan Steven Cohen, of course, with his $8 billion Metropolitan Park\u00a0that would install a Hard Rock casino next door to Citi Field in Queens. There\u2019s Genting\u2019s Resorts World, which is looking to add live table games to its existing gambling operation in Queens, to the tune of $5.5 billion. And Bally\u2019s is looking to spend $4 billion on\u00a0building a gambling facility on top of the former Trump Golf Links in the Bronx \u2014 which would mean a\u00a0$115 million payout<\/a> to the president. This caught the attention<\/a> of Yonkers\u2019s mayor, Mike Spano, who had supported MGM\u2019s bid for a full-license casino and called for Governor Kathy Hochul to investigate the company\u2019s change of heart. \u201cThe reasons MGM gives for its 180-degree reversal just don\u2019t add up,\u201d Spano said, suggesting that perhaps the Las Vegas\u2013based company was trying to sweeten up to Donald Trump by clearing the way for Bally\u2019s to win a license. \u201cThe people of Yonkers deserve to know if this process was tainted or manipulated in any way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n MGM was long seen as a favorite in the race, owing to the fact that, like Resorts World, it was already running a gambling operation with video slots and horse racing. Its proposed $2.3 billion investment, however, was quite puny compared to the rest, and its plans didn\u2019t even include a hotel. (Where else are blackjack winners expected to roll around in their cash or, you know, weep in panic over their losses?)<\/p>\n In its statement on the move, MGM wrote that the state Gaming Commission\u2019s newly issued guidance that the duration of each casino license would be based on the size of the bidder\u2019s proposal had changed its calculus. (The company believes it would likely receive only a 15-year license, versus the 30-year permit it had anticipated.) The concentration of nearby competition \u2014 including the Bally\u2019s project, which would be less than a 25-minute drive from MGM\u2019s operation \u2014 didn\u2019t seem to help. \u201cThe newly defined competitive landscape \u2014 with four proposals clustered in a small geographic area \u2014 challenges the returns we initially anticipated from this project,\u201d per the statement.<\/p>\n The existing pool, small as it is now, comes after all three contenders in Manhattan were blocked<\/a> by community advisory committees, which is also what happened to a plan to put a casino along Surf Avenue<\/a> on Coney Island. And even though we\u2019ve now got three bidders vying for three licenses, there is still some suspense: The Gaming Commission could ultimately choose to award less than three \u2014 even zero. That\u2019s gambling for you, I guess.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n