The fate of three Manhattan casino proposals may have been sealed three years ago, 150 miles to the north.
Major developers, casino companies and investors spent millions of dollars trying to bring full-fledged gambling halls to Times Square, the West Side and near the United Nations. But in the last two weeks, they all ran into a hurdle they couldn’t clear: local panels that chose to kill their proposals.
Albany lawmakers created the Community Advisory Committees in a round of legislative dealmaking at the Capitol in 2022. They were granted the ability to stop a proposal from advancing to the final stage of bidding if the community opposed it.
Key lawmakers say the process is working exactly as intended, much to the developers’ chagrin. But others saw the panels as a poison pill that would doom Manhattan casinos from the jump. Lawmakers representing the borough who have long been critical of the gambling industry insisted upon the panels that eventually torpedoed the projects.
“I’m taking credit, damn it,” state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, told Gothamist.
Here’s how the sausage was made.
Back in 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul decided she wanted to speed up the process for awarding the state’s final three casino licenses, which voters approved as part of a constitutional amendment in 2014. But she needed legislative approval to do so. Hochul leaned on lawmakers to accelerate the process by several months as part of the state budget.
They landed on the Community Advisory Committees. One committee would be created for each casino proposal, with most having six members — one each appointed by the governor, the mayor, a state assemblymember, a state senator, a city councilmember and the borough president. Each proposed casino would have to clear a two-thirds vote by the panel to advance to the final stage of bidding.
“We basically wanted to hear what people from the neighborhood had to say — not the paid people that went to testify for or against, or all the unions that are going to get union jobs no matter where the casinos are located, but people who actually lived in the neighborhood,” said Assemblymember Gary Pretlow, a Mount Vernon Democrat who chaired the Assembly’s gaming committee at the time of the deal.
In all three cases, Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams’ appointees voted in favor of the proposals. But it wasn’t enough to overcome opposition from the appointees tapped by state lawmakers, city councilmembers and the borough president.
Hochul told reporters Tuesday that her appointees voted for the casinos in order to increase competition for the final stages of the selection process, where state gaming officials will negotiate terms of the licenses. But she said she stands by the panel votes.
“I've been committed to community input from the beginning, and the communities have spoken,” she said.
Krueger, one of the highest-ranking state Senate Democrats and a long-standing opponent of legalized gambling, was the driving force behind creating the panels three years ago.
So were the panels a poison pill for Manhattan casinos all along? “ I hoped it would be,” Krueger said. “I didn't know whether it would be, but I hoped it would be.”
“ I was pretty sure that with the right education opportunities … we could actually swing public opinion momentum to have my colleague elected officials not want to vote yes,” she said.
The Caesars Palace proposal in Times Square is in Krueger’s district. After the Community Advisory Committee voted it down, the head of the company that owns the building that would’ve housed the casino shouted at the panel members as the meeting adjourned.
“The benefits you denied this community and this city and state, you have to live with that history forever,” said Marc Holliday, chair and CEO of SL Green Realty Corp.
Five proposals are still vying for the three available casino licenses, including one from Resorts World, which is looking to upgrade its existing racetrack casino in Queens to a full-fledged casino with table games.
The other proposals include Mets owner Steve Cohen’s partnership with Hard Rock International near Citi Field in Queens, a Bally’s casino in the Bronx and MGM’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers, which has Assemblymember Pretlow’s support.
The fifth remaining proposal, a facility known as The Coney on Coney Island, appears to be in peril after multiple Community Advisory Committee members announced they would vote it down.
The local panels are set to vote on the MGM and Resorts World proposals on Thursday. The others have until the end of the month to schedule their vote. From there, the approved proposals go to a separate statewide board that will recommend which planned casinos should get a license. It’s up to the state Gaming Commission to negotiate a final deal.
Ballot Box
This week we're wondering: Were the local panels right to reject the Manhattan casino proposals? Why or why not?
Last week we asked: Is New York on the right track or heading in the wrong direction?
“Right track. While we face substantial challenges in recognizing the inequity in our society and having the bravery to do something about it, we at least acknowledge civil rights are a good thing and climate change is real.”
- Michele, Brooklyn
“Wrong direction. So much gun violence and the economy as well as homelessness and poverty and cleanliness is behind.”
- Sam, Queens
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New York City’s mayoral election is less than two months away, and “All Things Considered” continues its “Word From The Curb” event series where we visit different neighborhoods for lively discussions about the issues animating the race. We’ve already visited Southwest Brooklyn and Southeast Queens, and on Tuesday, Sep. 30 we’re heading to Throgs Neck in the Bronx for a live show at American Turners Club. We hope you join us for this public — and free — event by the beach.
Like everywhere else we’ve been, voters in Throgs Neck tell us they’re acutely concerned about affordability: Food and housing costs are top of mind. Residents have also told us they’re concerned about transit accessibility and job opportunities.
We’ll explore all these issues and more during our live broadcast in conversations with local stakeholders, WNYC reporters and voters. We’ll even play some games where you could win some WNYC swag.
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