The $500 million licences came with a key condition: recipients must sign agreements with third parties to monitor and enforce the litany of community benefits that each pledged over the course of the process. These agreements must run for at least five years from the date of licensure and applicants must report progress quarterly. <\/p>\n
Such a condition falls in line with the guidance offered by the Gaming Facility Location Board<\/a> (GFLB), which had recommended all three finalists on 1 December. Before that ruling, the applicants\u2019 Community Advisory Committees had also stressed the need to formalise community agreements.<\/p>\n In the end, the three winners proved victorious in a field that was once as wide as 11 potential applicants<\/a>. Four bidders voluntarily withdrew \u2013 Hudson\u2019s Bay Co, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts \u2013 while the other four were eliminated in the community advisory stage.<\/p>\n \u201cTo all three who have been granted this conditional licence, congratulations on behalf of the state of New York,\u201d said NYSGC Chairman Brian O\u2019Dwyer. \u201cWe look forward to seeing the jobs, economic development, infrastructure and gaming revenue come to fruition.\u201d <\/p>\n What do the New York casino winners have planned? <\/p>\n Bally\u2019s plans to build a $4 billion integrated resort<\/a> at a golf course it owns in the Bronx. In addition to the licensing and construction costs, the company also owes an additional $115 million to the Trump Organization, the course\u2019s former owner, as part of the site\u2019s purchase agreement.<\/p>\n Metropolitan Park is to be a sprawling $8 billion mixed-use complex<\/a> adjacent to the New York Mets\u2019 Citi Field stadium in Queens. It is a joint venture between Hard Rock International and Mets owner Steve Cohen. The project avoided political hiccups over rezoning as well as a last-minute legal challenge from the US Tennis Association.<\/p>\n Resorts World plans an expansive $5.5 billion renovation and expansion<\/a> of its existing video lottery terminal facility, also in Queens. The facility was the most aggressive in its bidding, proposing tax rates of 56% and 30% for slots and table games, respectively.<\/p>\n Bally\u2019s and Metropolitan Park are both slated to open in 2030 whereas Resorts World plans to open the first phase of its expanded casino in 2026. The operator originally projected a July launch but bumped that up to March, an ambitious schedule, as bidding intensified.<\/p>\n Competition became an increasingly worrisome factor as the process went on, given that two of the three projects are in Queens. All of the Manhattan bids were eliminated from contention and MGM pulled its Yonkers bid, leaving Queens and the Bronx as the remaining winners in the downstate race. <\/p>\n Resorts World fulfills its New York prophecy<\/p>\n The combination of the higher tax rates and fastest speed to market made Resorts World a frontrunner from the beginning. Its licensure was perhaps least surprising among the field.<\/p>\n \u201cResorts World New York City thanks the New York State Gaming Commission for today\u2019s final approval,\u201d Robert DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to opening within months as New York City\u2019s first full commercial casino.\u201d<\/p>\n The property will have a significant first-mover advantage. If its meets its announced casino launch date, it will be the only downstate licensee for at least three full years, and perhaps four.<\/p>\n But Resorts World\u2019s parent company, Genting Bhd, has two loose ends to tend to in the meantime \u2013 the $561 million sale of its Resorts World Catskills property to Sullivan County in upstate New York, and its efforts to privatise its Genting Malaysia subsidiary.<\/a> The Catskills sale has been delayed to 2026 as the latter process unfolds.<\/p>\n The biggest question related to Resorts World\u2019s downstate bid had revolved around suitability. Resorts World Las Vegas, Genting\u2019s Strip casino, was fined $10.5 million this year<\/a> for substantial anti-money laundering violations.<\/p>\n Resorts World did not disclose to New York officials the details of that incident or other fines it had received, which worried the GFLB. But the NYSGC said Monday that nothing in Resorts World\u2019s application or background check was prohibitive for licensure.<\/p>\n Bally\u2019s comes out of nowhere to win one for the Bronx <\/p>\n While Resorts World was a leading favourite, Bally\u2019s Bronx was the opposite, representing the biggest surprise of the three winners. <\/p>\n A successful New York bid adds to a growing list of significant projects the operator is involved in, with the others in Chicago, Las Vegas and internationally. Its $1.8 billion Chicago casino will open next year and its majority takeover of Australian operator Star Entertainment was just approved<\/a>. A proposed Las Vegas Strip casino complex is still in preliminary stages.<\/p>\n Perhaps no one aided Bally\u2019s New York casino fortunes more than outgoing NYC Mayor Eric Adams. Adams stepped in twice to aid the project\u2019s rezoning efforts<\/a> with the New York City Council, once by lowering a vote threshold and again by vetoing another vote altogether. He later withdrew from the city\u2019s mayoral election in November.<\/p>\n The location in the Bronx is notable as Bally\u2019s Bronx, if fully built, would represent the largest private investment in the borough\u2019s history. The company\u2019s extensive local and minority-led hiring and diversity commitments proved to be big factors in the state\u2019s considerations.<\/p>\n Costs will be closely monitored \u2013 the highly leveraged company has taken on substantial debt. It has financed multiple transactions with the help of its biggest lending partner, Gaming and Leisure Properties. While the GFLB called Bally\u2019s a \u201cnon-investment-grade entity\u201d, that concern did not deter the commission\u2019s support.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving grown up in the city, it\u2019s an honor and privilege to be selected by the Gaming Commission to receive a licence,\u201d Bally\u2019s Chairman Soo Kim said in a statement. \u201cOur team has worked closely with community leaders, union partners and local stakeholders to build a project that delivers real jobs, lasting economic benefits and a world-class entertainment destination for the Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n Metropolitan Park calls its shot, hits a home run <\/p>\n Like Resorts World, Metropolitan Park had long been viewed as a leading candidate for a New York casino licence. Its ability to transform otherwise vacant parking lots into a year-round entertainment destination was a key point in its success.<\/p>\n The backing from Mets owner Steve Cohen, one of the richest men in the world<\/a>, also made it arguably the most secure project cost-wise. Cohen is a significant donor to the state\u2019s Democratic Party and has long been connected to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. <\/p>\n Yet, local politics almost derailed the $8 billion dream. State Senator Jessica Ramos, whose district includes much of the site, refused to sponsor rezoning legislation. Cohen and company eventually skirted this roadblock by enlisting Senator John Liu to carry the legislation instead. Liu and Ramos\u2019 public disagreement over the maneuver was one of the political lowlights of the licensing process<\/a>.<\/p>\n The US Tennis Association also created intrigue by filing a last-minute lawsuit over lease obligations tied to the land. This was averted through a new agreement with the city, stakeholders said. <\/p>\n \u201cSince the day I bought the team, the community and Mets fans have made it clear to me that we can and should do better with the area around the ballpark,\u201d Cohen said in a statement. \u201cNow, we are going to be able to deliver the sports and entertainment district that our fans have been asking for.\u201d <\/p>\n Cohen\u2019s casino partner, Seminole-owned Hard Rock International, enjoys a monopoly on casinos and online sports betting in Florida and is constructing a Las Vegas Strip resort on the site of the former Mirage with an opening pegged for 2027.<\/p>\n Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen said in a statement his company is \u201cexcited to build on our long record of delivering world-class entertainment experiences here in Queens\u201d.<\/p>\n Jess has covered the global gaming industry since 2022. A native of Reno, Nevada, he\u2019d like to note that it\u2019s Ne-va-da, not Ne-VAH-da.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York casino finalists got early Christmas presents from state regulators who approved the two in Queens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24446,5433,9,24,55,54,56,30688],"class_list":["post-72394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-ballys-corporation","tag-metropolitan-park","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-resorts-world-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jess](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bG9jYWw6Ly8vaWdhbWluZ2J1c2luZXNzLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyNS8xMS9qZXNzLW1hcnF1ZXotcHJvZmls.webp\")
<\/a>Jess Marquez<\/a><\/p>\n