The Top 10 Highlights Of The New York Casino Licensing Process

Maybe it wasn’t the casino licenses that were awarded, but instead the friends we made along the way.

Nah, it was definitely about those three licenses worth $500 million apiece that were granted Monday by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC). Technically a journey that began in 2013 with the issuance of seven casino licenses in the state of New York, the downstate process did not officially begin until Gov. Kathy Hochul included those three licenses in the Enacted Budget of 2022 with a target date of issuance in December 2025.

And here we are now, December 2025, and all three licenses were issued just in time for Christmas. Incumbent Resorts World New York City and greenfield projects Hard Rock Metropolitan Park and Bally’s Bronx were the winners after navigating interwoven, multiple-step sets of legal, logistical, political, local, and financial rules, laws, challenges, and concerns.

All three entities will be writing enormous checks to the NYSGC at some point over the next two weeks to pay those license fees for the privilege to offer casino gaming in the biggest market the United States has to offer: the New York City metropolitan area.

There will be a time and place to break down finances and financial projections of each licensee (though some of that has already been done). But in the spirit of another New York City icon, let’s throw an homage to David Letterman and offer the top 10 highlights of the New York downstate casino licensing process.

No. 10: The one that could have been

Of all the proposed casinos that were rumored, planned, or considered, only one had a level of delusional grandeur that matched the size of New York City. That’s right, I’m talking about the short-lived plans of Saks Global to have a casino on the top three floors of its iconic Fifth Avenue property.

The thought of picking out a two-piece Zegna suit and then taking the elevator a couple of floors up to strut down a red carpet for a throw of the dice or hand of blackjack is the true stuff of caviar dreams and champagne wishes. And doing it across the street from the most holy St. Patrick’s Cathedral was chef’s kiss exquisite.

No. 9: Marmorato misses

Former U.S. Congressman Tip O’Neill popularized the phrase “all politics is local,” and the NYSGC’s decision to create Community Advisory Committees (CACs) to help gauge interest in the eight applicants put a spotlight on local politicians below the state level.

It can be argued no one had this process go rougher for them than New York City Councilmember Kristy Marmorato. An opponent of the Bally’s project from the get-go, she shepherded enough support in July to vote down its proposed land rezoning required for the bid, only to have outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams veto that.

That allowed Bally’s to submit an application and present its proposal to the CAC. At the second hearing, Marmorato was big-footed by State Assemblymembers Amanda Septimo and Yudelka Tapia, who supported the $4 billion proposal as part of needed potential job creation. Marmorato’s representative to the CAC was the only no vote to the Bally’s proposal.

No. 8: Queens get that money

Sometimes, a little levity in a process fraught with multi-billion dollar pressure is needed. Enter Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who may be the biggest winner on the political side in all this with two casinos coming to his borough.

Richards has not been shy about pumping Queens as a global gaming destination, but his cheeky tweaks at Jay-Z — especially after the rap star saw his bid to bring a casino to Manhattan via Roc Nation and Caesars come up short while Resorts World moved forward — was a bit of comical spice in what was sometimes a slog of a process.

No. 7: No more Empire City

There’s always one applicant that will bring the drama, and MGM Empire City did so in droves. There was even ironic foreshadowing to its 11th-hour withdrawal from the process back at the initial meeting in August when CAC Chair James Cavanaugh noted the “study says that the failure to get the license would be catastrophic.”

Once parent company MGM felt it would not be able to secure a 30-year license and not reach projected revenue goals based on the proximity of the other two potential licensees, it pivoted out of the process. And that leaves the Empire City racino facing the prospect of being a shell of its former self.

No. 6: Why would you do that?

No applicant had as smooth a process when it came to the CAC hearings as Resorts World. A gaming incumbent good at what a casino does (generate tax revenue for the state and local community) and beloved by said local community, Resorts was never not going to land one of the three licenses.

But its willingness to pay 20% above the listed license fee and pay taxes at rates well above the baselines set by the Gaming Floor Location Board continues to boggle the mind. In that interim while Hard Rock and Bally’s build, Resorts World continues to be the good community partner and it makes sense. But come next decade when all three would be operational, and Resorts World is still paying 56% on slots and 30% on table games, that may be a drag on its eventual long-term integrated resort goals at Aqueduct.

No. 5: Manhattan, borough of NIMBY

On paper, there is understandable attraction to putting a casino in the largest city in the country. Each of the three proposals that would have put a venue in New York City had a reasonable chance of financial success when it came to gaming operators and the primary partners.

But each one failed to overcome an entrenched opponent. In the cases of The Avenir and Freedom Plaza, local residents were not enamored of the proposals, nor impressed with the “charm offensive” the groups tried to use via gaming operator employees shuttled in from not-so-nearby properties.

Caesars Palace had professional grade opposition in Broadway. The Great White Way saw nothing additive about a casino next to its stage, perhaps more so because it would have been located at the Minskoff Theatre. And no group can make their plight heard better, louder, or catchier than theater people.

To twist Jonathan Groff’s King George III from Hamilton, Caesars “won’t be back.”

No. 4: The Coney

This could have had its own Top 10, but in a word: Wow.

The two CAC hearings for Thor Equities’ proposed casino in Brooklyn were equal parts Jerry Springer Show and cries for help in a borough that needs revitalization. This may have been the only CAC where it was a foregone conclusion it would not be approved after the first meeting, but the vitriol and rancor in the second cemented it.

One of the lasting visions of this entire process was seeing CAC Chair and term-limited New York City Councilman Justin Brannan and fellow CAC members looking emotionally exhausted at the end of the second hearing before the NYSGC’s feed cut out.

No. 3: Resorts World’s Kevin Jones

Even with the advantage of incumbency, Resorts World still needed to present a vision of its goals with a proposed $5.5 billion expansion to its existing venue.

At both CAC hearings, Strategy Chief & Legal Officer Kevin Jones was an absolute star. Eloquent in both delivery and cadence, Jones outlined Resorts World’s plans to have a casino floor with 10,800 gaming positions as well as robust community plans that include proposals for affordable housing.

While Resorts World’s staggering proposed tax rates in which they essentially painted themselves into a corner is a potential problem it may have to unwind during its expansion process, no one can deny that expansion looks promising thanks to Jones.

No. 2: Low-key Hard Rock

One of the most odd parts of this whole licensing process was watching Hard Rock — arguably the operator with the most cachet when it comes to actual casino gaming — be a spectator for most of the deliberations regarding its $8.1 billion Metropolitan Park proposal in tandem with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.

And to be fair, this is mostly Cohen’s baby. He owns the ball club and he owns Citi Field, which is adjacent to where Hard Rock will operate the casino. Accordingly, his group did most of the community outreach via Cohen’s Chief of Staff Michael “Sully” Sullivan.

Hard Rock made itself heard when it needed to: in the executive summary presented to the New York Gaming Floor Location Board when it came to casino revenue projections. Hard Rock estimated $33.5 billion in tax receipts over the course of the 30-year license on the strength of more than 7,000 gaming positions.

No. 1: A casino grows in the Bronx

I am still choking down the humble pie that comes with Bally’s obtaining one of these licenses granted, since I labeled them longshots at each checkpoint in this process. So credit to Bally’s Chairman and CEO Soo Kim, who had the foresight to partner with both Adams and the Trump Organization in aligning the pieces to his proposed casino and integrated resort.

All that said, some skepticism remains and is warranted. Bally’s now has three billion-dollar casino projects going alongside current ones in Chicago and Las Vegas. It secured $1.1 billion in term loans as a means of paying the New York license fee and the $115 million premium to the Trump Organization as part of the conditions for the $60 million lease it acquired for managing the golf course on the property in 2023.

Can it juggle all three projects? That remains to be seen. But the little proposal that could became the big winner that right now can.