Downstate New York Casino Process Has An End In Sight (Allegedly)

It sometimes feels as if the downstate New York casino process has been about as long as waiting to see what your Aunt Gertie is going to do with her soft 17 facing off against the dealer’s seven. (For purposes of this exercise, your Aunt Gertie lived through the Great Depression, is wearing knee-high stockings, and has never played blackjack before.)

In short: The wait is interminable. 

But according to a recent report in The Gothamist, the end is in sight, although you’ll probably have your New Year’s Eve outfit picked out before you find out just where — and exactly how many — casinos will be coming to downstate New York.

Here’s the outline, cribbed from that article as well as a June memo from the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board:

By June 27 of this year, any and all casino applications are due. There are currently 11 expected bidders for up to three casino licenses. As soon as the applications are in, each proposal will then go to Community Advisory Committees (CAC). The members of the committees are being named by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

This is not a formality; for any of the 11 proposals to go forward, they each must pass muster with their CACs. A two-thirds majority is required to move any of the proposals forward.

The CACs have until Sept. 30 to make their decisions.

At that point, any of the proposals that passed through the CAC process go to the Gaming Facility Location Board. In addition, at this point, each proposed casino project will be offering its own proposed tax rate for the casino, which adds a bit of Blind Man’s Bluff to the proceedings.

The board will evaluate the plans and make its recommendations by Dec. 1 — or rather, as per the board’s language, it “expects” to make its recommendations by Dec. 1. Those recommendations — for either zero, one, two, or three casinos — will then go to the state’s gaming commission, which has until the end of the year to issue its approvals.

What could possibly go wrong?

Eleven and (not) counting

Here are the 11 projects vying for the licenses, broken down by geography:

Manhattan

Caesars Entertainment, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and SL Green Realty, the biggest landlord in New York City, have put together a plan for a casino/resort smack dab in the middle of Times Square, on Broadway no less.

Wynn Resorts and Related Companies are looking at Hudson Yards, near the Javits Center, for their casino/resort. Their plan calls for a 1,500-room hotel with over 20 restaurants and nightclubs.

Silverstein Properties with Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment (parent company of Parx Casino) have called their plan “The Avenir.” It would be located on the far West Side, with a pair of buildings connected by a sky bridge. The hotel itself would feature over 1,000 rooms.

Hudson’s Bay Company, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, would turn a few of the top floors of its flagship department store into a casino. Hardware, childrensware, ladies lingerie, and blackjack, in other words.

Soloviev Group with Mohegan Gaming is looking to put a casino/hotel near the United Nations, along with a museum dedicated to democracy.

The Bronx

Bally’s is looking to build on what is part of a golf course in Ferry Point, formerly owned by the once and future President Donald Trump. (Well, at least owned by the Trump Corporation.)

Brooklyn

Thor Equities Group, with Saratoga Casino Holdings, the Chickasaw Nation, and Legends Hospitality is hoping to build a casino at Coney Island.

Queens

Genting Group’s Resorts World NYC at the Queens Aqueduct Racetrack is already operating as a racino, and this plan at the track would add a hotel and a 7,000-seat entertainment venue.

Hard Rock Willets Point is better known as New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s big plan to turn a current parking lot into a full-fledged casino and resort. 

Nassau County

Las Vegas Sands and RXR Realty are seeking to turn the property of the old Nassau Coliseum into a casino resort.

Westchester County

MGM Resorts International’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers is the other racino looking to expand, and part of its plan calls for a 5,000-seat entertainment venue.