The state’s Gaming Facility Location Board is placing an expensive bet that New York City can support three full-fledged casino gambling operations just miles apart, with one in the Bronx and two in Queens.
“We asked our consultants to be very, very conservative,” said Vicki Been, the Location Board’s chair, which unveiled its long-awaited recommendation on Monday. “Even with that very, very conservative look they believed that the New York market is plenty strong to give the three casino licenses.”
But not everyone shares the board’s conviction that the region can sustain three new gambling hubs, with billions of dollars in revenue and investment on the line.
“We've now created the Van Wyck Expressway Casino Belt, with casinos running from the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge to Kennedy Airport,” said Bennett Liebman, the Government Lawyer in Residence at Albany Law School and a former member of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
He said the process was ill-considered, having resulted in a short list of projects far removed from the city’s central commercial districts.
“If you’re looking for economic development and tax revenue, you’d certainly want something much closer to Manhattan,” Liebman said.
Monday’s announcement by the five-member panel was the next-to-last step in a process that has unwound for years and will likely conclude in the coming weeks, when the New York State Gaming Commission makes its final decision, awarding up to three licenses.
An artist rendering of the proposed Metropolitan Park in Queens.
The finalists are Bally’s Bronx at Ferry Point, Hard Rock Metropolitan Park near Citi Field and Resorts World New York City, an expanded facility where the Aqueduct Racetrack is situated. Proponents of the projects said they would create thousands of new jobs — both construction jobs and permanent ones — and revive local communities.
Although the location board’s announcement prompted considerable praise from a number of pro-gaming stakeholders, some gaming experts were less than enthusiastic about the potential for a profusion of new gaming facilities.
Been said the board members had carefully considered “the cannibalization question” – whether three casinos just miles from one another would inevitably eat into each other’s profits.
Ultimately, she said, the board determined that each of the projects was distinct enough from the other that it would generate a unique customer base: Bally’s Bronx, for instance, is the only project with a golf course, while the proposed Hard Rock Metropolitan Park, next to Citi Field, the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, and a planned soccer stadium, would help anchor “a strong entertainment district,” as the board’s evaluation stated.
Rendering of the expanded Resorts World New York City casino gambling development, next to Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens.
The evaluation also stated that with roughly 20 million people living in the New York City metro area and domestic and international tourists, the total downstate casino market “could reach approximately $5.5 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2033,” more than enough to sustain a robust downstate gaming industry.
Within the first 10 years of operation, the board predicted that the three facilities would collectively generate nearly $13 billion in taxes, including $7 billion in gaming taxes and $5.9 billion in hotel, sales and property taxes.
“The downstate gaming market is among the nation’s strongest,” the evaluation stated, “given the area’s dense population, high income levels, and tourism volume.”
Anthony Lucas, a professor of casino management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, broadly agreed. He said other cities in the United States had managed to support more than three casinos.
“I think New York City is a large enough market to support the three new venues,” Lucas said. “These companies are well aware of the necessary due diligence required to estimate demand and they are quite familiar with the tools to do so.”
Not everyone will benefit. Lucas said that existing casinos in the region would likely be hurt by the introduction of new casinos in the five boroughs, especially those “that rely on the New York City feeder market.”
Following the Location Board’s announcement on Monday, a number of elected officials, union leaders and business groups released statements of praise.
“Queens is on the move,” said Tom Grechthe, the president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.
“The three projects approved today promise to unlock billions in funding for the MTA and create tens of thousands of jobs,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Opponents of the Hard Rock Metropolitan Park said they would continue to oppose the sprawling project.
Flushing Workers Center, a Queens-based group that represents workers across trades, released a statement saying the casino would hurt families, spur gambling addictions and increase crime and displacement: “The tax revenue collected will come at the cost of the most vulnerable people in our community.”
The group pointed to an analysis earlier this year by Vivian Lu, a researcher at the Urban Institute, that the casino “could displace almost 16,000 renters who spend more than half of their income on housing in Corona and Flushing.”
Sarah Ahn, a Queens resident and member of the Flushing Workers Center, said the casino would simply compound an ongoing problem of displacement in the fast-growing corner of her borough.
“This casino is just piece and parcel of that,” Ahn said. “It’s going to cause a skyrocketing of our rents, of property taxes. It’s really a hit to our small businesses as well.”
Karl Rickett, a spokesperson for Hard Rock Metropolitan Park, said in a statement that the project had been approved by six community boards as well as other local and state legislative bodies.
“The Gaming Facility Location Board has validated the positive economic impact this project will have with billions of dollars in tax revenue, 23,000 union jobs, and over $1 billion in community benefits,” Rickett said. “We look forward to the Gaming Commission’s review.”
