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The field is narrowing for purveyors of NYC casino gambling projects
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Sep 28, 2025
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By
Arun Venugopal
Published Sep 28, 2025
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The purveyors of lavish, multibillion-dollar casino projects proposed for the New York City area are nearing the end of a process that will determine which of the bets will pay off.
In coming days, powerful community advisory committees will cast votes on the last of eight projects up for consideration.
Projects winning committee approvals will move on to a final round of scrutiny: The state’s gaming facility location board is expected to award up to three downstate casino licenses before the year’s end.
Community advisory panels have already weighed in on five of the eight proposals. Here’s what we know now about the winners and losers and what to expect in the days ahead.
Who are the winners so far?
Two projects have advanced to the final round: the proposed MGM Empire City Casino in Yonkers, and Resorts World NYC in Queens.
Both bids won unanimous votes from their respective community advisory committees, and both currently have gaming on site and now hoping to turbocharge those venues with full-fledged casino offerings, hotels and entertainment venues.
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.
Meanwhile, the $2.3 billion MGM Empire City project in Yonkers entails renovating and expanding the current gaming area, with three full-service restaurants, a parking garage and a new entertainment venue.
In the case of the Yonkers bid, one committee member who voted in favor of the project portrayed a casino license as critical to the future health of the existing facility and the city itself.
“ If Yonkers does not get one of the three full casino licenses, Empire Casino will wither and die,” said James Cavanaugh, a committee member appointed by Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.
What about the losers?
Three casino bids have been voted down so far, all of them in Manhattan.
These include 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, the president of the lobbying firm Parkside Group, said unlike the so-far successful bids in Yonkers and Queens, the Manhattan bids were up against “tremendous opposition from elected officials and community groups,” including state Sen. Liz Krueger.
“She's been very outspoken against having a casino in Manhattan,” Stavisky said. “ She absolutely was successful in her efforts.”
What’s next?
This week, advisory committees could determine the fates of the remaining three bids for Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
On Monday, committees are scheduled to vote on Bally’s Bronx, located at Ferry Point, as well as the Coney, located at Surf and Stillwell avenues in South Brooklyn. A vote on Metropolitan Park in Queens will follow on Tuesday.
The Bally’s proposal was nearly killed earlier this summer, when the City Council denied the project a needed rezoning, but Mayor Eric Adams rescued the bid by vetoing the Council's decision, arguing that the project would provide thousands of jobs. Still, it will need to secure at least four of the six committee votes, and local Councilmember Kristy Marmorato, whose appointee has one vote, has previously said the project “did not meet the standards her community deserves.”
Similarly, the Coney's opponents feel optimistic about Monday's vote, in part because local Councilmember Justin Brannan has publicly come out against the project.
Brannan announced his opposition in a Brooklyn Paper column last week, titled “Coney Island is Not for Sale.” In it, he wrote, “everyone knows that a massive 37-acre casino complex wouldn’t complement our local economy — it would cannibalize it and swallow the People’s Playground whole.”
Tagged
Race And Justice Unit
economy
new york city
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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