All The New York Casino News That’s Fit To Print
A contentious discussion, an admission that a project is kaput, and Mr. Carter goes to Albany
1 min
Another few weeks, and no shortage of bits and pieces — chips and markers, if you will — of news from the race for three downstate New York casino licenses.
A quick rundown …
During a debate hosted by NY1 that featured three Democratic candidates for Manhattan borough president, one of them made clear his position on a possible casino in the borough.
“If you want a Manhattan casino, don’t vote for me,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal. His district encompasses much of the West Side, where two of the bidders — Caesars Palace Times Square and The Avenir on W 41st Street and 11th Avenue — would be theoretically setting up shop.
Councilman Keith Powers, whose district includes an area that would be home to the bid from the Soloviev Group in partnership with Mohegan, fired back at Hoylman-Sigal, noting that he voted for the downstate casinos as a member of the Senate without ruling out Manhattan.
“This is the classic Albany approach,” Powers said. “Come down to the city, say one thing, get on the train, do the opposite.”
Meanwhile, the third candidate, Calvin Sun, tried to temper both sides.
“I know gambling is bad for your health,” he said, “but you know what’s worse? Running out of money.”
Big pimpin’
Meanwhile, Shawn Carter — better known as Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is partnered with Caesars in the Times Square bid — made a surprise trip to Albany two weeks ago for a sitdown with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
While there were no reports about what was said behind closed doors, Jay-Z’s presence in Albany certainly raised some eyebrows.
According to BlackEnterprise.com, Jay-Z would become America’s second Black casino owner in U.S. history. In 2002, Don Barden became the first African-American to own a casino, buying three Fitzgeralds casinos for $149 million.
Like sands through an hourglass …
So are the days of the short life of the proposed Sands casino project at the site of the old Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Nassau County.
Sands dropped out of the race in April to build a casino on the property, citing an uncertain economy and online casinos as reasons.
There was chatter that DraftKings was going to partner with the county to prepare a bid, but that chatter is over.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman told Newsday that “we are going to pursue a different direction,” or what he called “Plan B.”
When pressed about partnering with someone else in an effort to get a casino bid in before the June 27 deadline, he said it was “very, very, unlikely.”
According to the report, Sands is still interested in building a sports-entertainment-hospitality project on the site.
