It’s taken a dozen years but the Great New York City Casino Race has finally found its three winning finalists – and trifecta perfecta the wolves of Wall Street–led by hedge fund managers, venture capitalists and big beast gambling companies–are howlin’.
Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets baseball team; Bally’s Corporation, with the component input of the Trump Organisation; and Malaysia-origin Genting Group’s Resorts World; all three won penultimate approval for their casino licence bids in the Big Apple yesterday from New York’s Gaming Facilities Location Board.
Now they only await the final rubber stamp approval from the New York State Gaming Commission before the end of this year.
Each successful licensee must pay at least US $500 million (£380m) up front, funds earmarked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
Historic
“Any approved project must provide real benefits to its community and have sustainable economic plans,” affirmed New York State Governor Kathy Hochul.
“[They] promise to unlock billions in funding for the MTA and create tens of thousands of jobs. It is critical that they keep those promises.
“I look forward to the Gaming Commission’s review of the Board’s recommendations in the weeks ahead.”
It’s been a heck of a race to the casino finishing line, started in 2013 when Empire State citizens voted for public casinos, a ground-beaking initiative which was then furloughed for nine-years before being revived in 2022 with eleven heavy-hitter contenders at the start of this year vying for only three available licences; among them: MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, the Chickasaw Nation and Caesars Entertainment, working in league with rapper Jay-Z.
All fell by the wayside after encountering tough local opposition, except Cohen’s projected mega casino complex Metropolitan Park, to be developed with Hard Rock Entertainment adjacent to the Mets’ Citi Field stadium in Flushing Meadows in the borough of Queens; Bally’s development of a former Trump-owned golf course in the Bronx and Genting’s plan to expand their Resorts World casino-hotel next to the Aqueduct racetrack, also in Queens.
Resorts World are proposing a major US$7.5 billion (£5.7bn) expansion of their existing gaming site, located alongside a horse racing track, near John F. Kennedy International Airport, which currently has some slot machines and table games.
Lords of the Universe
Robert DeSalvio, President of Resorts World (Genting Americas East), described the moment as “historic”, stressing that they would start construction work within 90-days of final approval.
For his part, Steve Cohen, CEO of the US$42 billion (£31.79bn) hedge fund Point72, who bought the New York Mets for US$2.4 billion (£1.81bn) in 2020, estimates that his 50-acre Metropolitan Park, created out of a concrete parking area, and featuring a live entertainment venue, restaurants, shopping arcade, a hotel and convention centre will open in 2030 and gross at least US$3.2 billion (£2.42bn) in revenue in its first year of business.
The project is expected to create 17,000 construction jobs and have a permanent workforce of 6,000 people.
Nevertheless, all is not quite plain sailing for the controversial “Lord of the Universe”, who has previously been associated with insider trading and had to break with working directly with client funds for five years between 2013 and 2018.
And although Cohen has spent generously on lobbying and self-promotion, not all Flushing Meadows locals are happy with the prospect of a mega casino on their doorstep.
Trumped Again
“The tax revenue collected will come at the cost of the most vulnerable people in our community. This casino will tear apart our families, create gambling addiction, increase crime and displacement,” claim the anti-casino Flushing Workers Center.
Similar claims may very well also bedevil Bally’s winning bid to develop the former Trump Links golf course with a 500,000-square-foot casino, 500-room hotel and event centre.
If the venture gains its final New York State Gaming Commission approval the Trump Organization will also receive US$115 million (£87.07m), as previously agreed when Bally’s bought the course.
From putative peace deals in Gaza, to developments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, prediction markets and now the Great New York casino saga, it is rare indeed that a Mr Trump or acolyte doesn’t figure somewhere in the financial equation.
To quote Gordon Gecko, the bête noire of Oliver Stone’s movie Wall Street: Greed is good!
So let’s roll those dice.
