Whether New Yorkers are ready or not, casinos will soon be coming to the New York City area.
Exactly how long and how much remains will be determined. What we know now is April, New York State approved the issuance of three new casino licenses for the region.
Technically, one or more licenses can be issued to a casino operator in another part of the state, but they are supposed to be issued to a lower region.
Government legalization casino in 2013, but agreed not to place any casinos in the lower region until 2023. Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature want to move forward faster and include a provision in the recently passed budget to increase the deadline.
Effort is part product of a lobbying effort by, among others, the Hospitality and Games Chamber of Commerce, along with seven gambling companies that are spending around $300,000 a month.
But before any new bricks are laid or chips are played, a long and complicated process awaits, involving a host of regulatory agencies, including the New York State Gaming Commission, the Board of Governors, and the New York State Gaming Commission. location of game facilities and an as yet unspecified number of community advisory committees.
Will New York City Get All Three Casino Licenses?
Sure is not.
MGM’s e-gambling facility in Yonkers, just north of New York City, is reportedly one of two locations growing in the process, along with Resorts World at Aqueduct Racecourse in Queens. Both have been home to “racinos” – racecourses have expanded to include casino-like properties, but with electronic lottery terminals, not table games.
With their longstanding political and community ties and readily available infrastructure, they are considered favorites for two out of three licenses.
There is a strong possibility that the third one will be in Manhattan. While the prospect of a casino in Manhattan has Enthusiastic developers from Hudson Yards to the East River, gaining permission from local politicians was still seen as a heavy move.
Other parts of the city are also playing, including neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn.
Who is expected to bid for a casino?
MGM and Genting, which operate two so-called racinos in the area, are hoping to upgrade their facilities in Yonkers and Queens into large-scale casinos.
The competition for the third license assumes a free for all. Matchmaking between real estate developers and casino operators eager to enter the bidding is akin to speed dating – with the casino operators freelance teaming up with a handful of developers.
Among those who considered participating were developers such as SL Green, Related Companies, Vornado Realty Trust in Manhattan and Citi Field owner Steven Cohen in Queens. Joseph J. Sitt, president of Thor Equities, is also planning to bid for a site on Coney Island.
Most likely there will be bids from Long Island.
Casino operators eyeing the opportunity include Bally’s Corporation, Las Vegas Sands and Hard Rock, which just opened a hotel in Midtown.
How does the selection process work?
If the administrative bodies were a Russian nesting doll, the largest, outermost doll would be the New York State Game Commission.
The commission will have a say on who gets the three new licenses and where the new casinos are located, but others will also have a say.
The first step was for the committee to fill out a five-member Game Base Placement Board; Its responsibilities include creating and managing the registration process for casino developers and presenting winners. State law requires at least three members by October 6; once that happens, the commission will have 90 days to make requests for casino license applications.
Applications will then be reviewed by the venue board, which will make the final recommendation to the Games Committee. The committee mechanism appears to give Governor Hochul some control: All seven members are directly appointed by the governor, one on the recommendation of the New York State Congress and the other. on the recommendation of the New York State Senate.
But the Game Commission cannot pass the placement board unless it discovers a problem with an applicant’s physicality and personality, the commission said.
And before any vote is taken, separate six-person community advisory committees will also have a chance to weigh in. In New York City, two of those members shall be appointed by the governor and the mayor; the remaining four will be local representatives of the City Council, Congress, Senate and county president. Those committees will consider the relevant application, with a two-thirds majority requesting approval.
Community advisory committee approval is a prerequisite for licensing, giving the committee the authority to process applications prior to review by the game committee.
Isn’t the casino market already saturated?
Without a doubt, there are numerous casinos that exist in the United States, as well as a multitude of other gambling options, and that has hampered economic projections for many new casinos.
But New York City is different.
It’s rich, it’s dense, and any casino here is likely to succeed – albeit at the possible expense of nearby gambling localities, like Atlantic City.
“You get access to a large local population that has driven a lot of revenue from gaming for several decades now in the broader geographic area,” said Colin Mansfield, analyst at Fitch Ratings. but it’s also a huge international destination,” said Colin Mansfield, an analyst at Fitch Ratings.
For more proof, look no further than Resorts World at Aqueduct, which has no table games like blackjack or roulette, claims to be “the highest grossing gambling casino in the world” and the largest single property tax payer in New York State. ”
What barriers will the casino operator have to overcome?
According to the New York State Gaming Commission, to place a casino anywhere in New York City, a developer may have to convince the New York City Council to redistribute the area in question.
Currently, New York City land regulations do not allow casinos. But that may not be a general prohibition: The commission has yet to determine whether the land is state-owned in Aqueduct, in Queens, or land near Penn Station (which the state plans to redevelopment using. a process that typically overwrites local land-use regulations) will require re-zoning.
In locations that need repartitioning, developers can expect a process to last as long as several months. If they can secure regional approvals and advancements from community advisory boards and game commissions, they will have to pay licensing fees of at least $500 million to the state.
