Oct. 15 (UPI) — MGM withdrew its bid for a casino license just outside New York City, drawing ire from local officials who have called for an investigation and accused the Trump administration of possible influence.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, MGM Resorts International abruptly withdrew its application for a commercial casino license, ending its bid for one of three state licenses from New York’s Gaming Commission for the planned MGM Yonkers site.\n<\/p>\n
“Since submitting our application in June, the competitive and economic assumptions underpinning our application have shifted, altering our return expectations on the proposed $2.3 billion investment,” according to MGM<\/a> officials.<\/p>\n The project gained unanimous approval of the Community Advisory Council.\n<\/p>\n MGM was viewed a leading candidate and the resort conglomerate was set to to begin construction within months of gaining its required license approval. It would’ve contributed to around 14 new restaurants, bars, a 5,000 seat show venue and 183 live dealer games.<\/p>\n “The newly defined competitive landscape — with four proposals clustered in a small geographic area — challenges the returns we initially anticipated from this project,” MGM stated.<\/p>\n Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano was critical of MGM’s decision Tuesday, saying the reasons for MGM’s extreme reversal “just don’t add up” and called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to initiate an investigation.\n<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Hochul stated “at this time” that she was not aware of any reason to investigate.<\/p>\n But Spano described it as<\/a> “nothing short of a betrayal.”<\/p>\n