Bally's Bronx Casino Bid Suffers Huge Blow

Bally's $4 billion proposal to bring a casino to The Bronx absorbed a crushing blow Monday when the New York City Council voted to disapprove having a portion of the land rezoned for a commercial enterprise.

The vote was 29-9 with four abstentions in disapproving the rezoning. Councilwoman Kristy Marmorato, who represents the 13th District in the Ferry Point Park section of The Bronx where the casino would have been built, introduced the motion to disapprove the rezoning.

Bally's Chairman Soo Kim expressed disappointment in the outcome, telling Crain's New York, “We had met the council member’s ask in terms of what exceptional community benefits they wanted. That ask was moving the goalposts from the prior ask, which we had met as well,” he said. “It’s sort of nutty. What more can we do than meet the ask?

“We thought that this was a good-faith negotiation that we were told was achievable. Maybe this whole thing was done in bad faith.”

The vote leaves Bally's in the lurch since the New York Gaming Facility Location Board can only consider proposals from applicants who have satisfied all state and local zoning requirements.

Bally's was one of eight groups that submitted an application last month for three downstate casino licenses. It was also a longshot to land one of the $500 million licenses considering New York City Mayor Eric Adams had to declare support for the bid to help it advance from the City Council to rezone the area from parkland.

Marmorato outlines opposition

In remarks prior to the vote, Marmorato criticized Bally's, saying the "application came in to the table a little too late with promises too vague with [a] process too flawed to rebuild the trust that was already lost in our community."

She added: "This is not real economic development. This is not housing, a hospital, or community improvements. It's a casino and we all know what casinos bring: no sustainable growth."

Fellow Bronx councilperson Rafael Salamanca, who chairs the land-use committee, urged lawmakers for an approval vote to allow Bally's to go through the casino application process.

"This application we're voting on will not grant Bally's a gaming license," he said. "The state will choose who to award the license, but [a] yes vote to disapprove will not allow the process to continue and deny the unhealthiest and poorest borough an opportunity to grow and provide jobs.

"By voting against this application, we're voting no to hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development and historic community benefits, which will bring robust community investments to all residents of the entire borough of the Bronx."

Bally's casino proposal includes 500,000 square feet of gaming space that would include 3,500 gaming machines and 250 table games. It projects to have 15,000 union-based construction jobs and 4,000 permanent union-based positions with an average annual salary of $96,000.

Bally's paid the Trump Organization $60 million to purchase the remainder of the lease for the property, but the agreement also has a clause in which Bally's would pay the Trump Organization an additional $115 million if it won one of the casino licenses.