Advisory panels unanimously approved plans Thursday for full-scale, expanded casino gambling operations in Yonkers and Queens, the first downstate projects to clear local reviews tafter a string of rejections for projects based in Manhattan.
A community advisory committee Thursday afternoon voted 6-0 to back the Resorts World New York City casino bid for Queens. Hours earlier a separate community advisory committee, in a 5-0 vote, backed the proposed MGM Empire City Casino in Yonkers.
The bids, which seek to channel billions of dollars into upgrading and expanding existing gaming facilities, now proceed to a final round of inquiry by the state gaming facility location board. The board is expected to award as many as three downstate gaming licenses by the end of the year.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards sounded giddy as he cast a vote in support of the Resorts World bid.
“Queens get the money,” said Richards, channeling rapper Nas while simultaneously taking a dig at another hip hop star, the co-backer of the failed Caesars Palace Times Square bid. “Sorry, Jay-Z. We win again!”
The $5.5 billion Resorts World bid would create a full casino next to the Aqueduct racetrack, as well as 2,000 hotel rooms, a 7,000-seat arena and more than 30 bars and restaurants. Company documents state a new casino could open as soon as next July, and gross gaming revenues would double from $1 billion to $2.2 billion by 2027. The projections anticipate 5,000 permanent jobs on site, in addition to 5,000 construction jobs.
Similarly, the $2.3 billion MGM Empire City project, at 810 Yonkers Ave., entails renovating and expanding the current gaming area, with three full-service restaurants, a parking garage and a new entertainment venue. The roots of the existing gaming site, which includes the Yonkers Raceway, go back to 1899, according to the company history.
James Cavanaugh, a committee member appointed by Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, said the existing “racino,” which includes both harness racing and electronic gaming, had contributed $22 million each year in direct taxes to the city and another $6 million in annual property taxes. The facility currently employs more than 700 workers, a figure that the company estimates would double if it procures a full casino license.
Cavanaugh said the license was critical if the city hoped to remain competitive with new facilities in New York City, boasting table games, live entertainment and sports betting “within a half-hour drive” of Yonkers.
“Who is going to continue going to an aging slot parlor that has none of these things?” Cavanaugh asked. “This casino license is existential for the city of Yonkers.”
The approvals follows three other community advisory panels' rejection of casino proposals in Manhattan. These included a bid for a Caesars Palace casino in Times Square; the Avenir in Hudson Yards; and Freedom Plaza, next to the United Nations headquarters. In all three cases, the only committee members who voted to approve the projects were appointees of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.
Evan Stavisky, president of lobbying firm Parkside Group, who is not affiliated with any of the remaining bids, said the Yonkers project and the one for Resorts World in Queens were better positioned than the Manhattan projects because both currently have on-site gaming.
“The existing Racinos in Yonkers and in Aqueduct have good relationships with the elected officials who represent those communities,” Stavisky said. “They have good relationships with the labor unions who represent their workers, and they have good relationships with the communities that they're a part of.”
“So it's a very different conversation than trying to open a casino in Midtown Manhattan, where there's tremendous opposition from elected officials and community groups," he added.
In the coming days other downstate casino proposals face votes from their respective committees. These include projects in the Bronx, Coney Island and in Queens.
This article was updated with additional information.
