Latest news with #Ballys
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mayor Adams gives Bally's Bronx casino bid second chance, vetoes NYC Council vote
Bally's bid to build a casino in the Bronx has been given a second chance after Mayor Adams on Wednesday vetoed a City Council measure that would have killed the proposal. The Council, which voted to shut down the proposal last month, could still override the mayor's veto with a two-thirds majority vote. Adams said his decision will 're-level the playing field and allow the Bronx to have a seat at the table, rather than give an unfair advantage to the other bidders and boroughs.' 'The City Council's decision to treat the Bronx differently than other boroughs goes against the publicly stated, in-favor positions of the Bronx borough president and other Council members representing working-class neighborhoods across the Bronx,' the mayor said in a statement. Frank Carone, the mayor's campaign chairperson, is a consultant on the Bally's project, and Vito Pitta, the campaign's lawyer, has also been a lobbyist for the casino bid. 'To make myself abundantly clear, this is not an endorsement or expression of support giving a leg up to any casino bid over the others as the City Council has tried to do, but an action I feel is necessary to best ensure a fair and competitive process,' Adams said. Carone said Wednesday he has had 'zero' conversations with the mayor about the Bally's bid. Pitta didn't immediately return a request for comment. The Trump Organization also stands to gain $115 million if the casino goes through. The Council voted 29-to-9 against the proposal at a July 14 meeting, following an unofficial practice called 'member deference' by lining up behind local Council member Kristy Marmorato, who opposes the project, which would be in her district. The mayor has indicated he wants to chip away at member deference, and his Charter Revision Commission has moved forward ballot proposals to limit the practice. Mara Davis, a spokesperson for the City Council speaker, slammed the mayor in a statement, saying he should put his efforts toward building more housing instead of protecting the Bronx casino bid, which doesn't include any housing. 'This administration's hypocrisy and unethical conduct is well documented and has been witnessed by all New Yorkers, so the mayor's words have no credibility,' Davis said. 'The Council will consider its next steps on this land-use application.' Marmorato and a spokesperson for Bally's did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bally's would need city approval to change the potential casino site's zoning from parkland to mixed-use development. With Chris Sommerfeldt Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Adams Revives Bally's Casino Bid by Vetoing Council's Vote to Block It
Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday gave new life to a gambling company's bid to build a casino in the Bronx, overriding the City Council's rejection of a zoning change critical to the $4 billion project. His move may help President Trump: If the company, Bally's, were to win approval, it would pay $115 million to the Trump Organization, the former operator of the site. Mr. Adams, however, cited a different objective, saying in a statement that by vetoing the Council's rejection of Bally's land-use application, he was creating an even playing field for all the contenders seeking casino licenses in the New York City area. The City Council now has 10 days to override the mayor's veto with a two-thirds majority vote. Mara Davis, a City Council spokeswoman, said in a statement that 'the mayor's words have no credibility' and that 'the Council will consider its next steps on this land-use application.' The Council, following a tradition of abiding by local members' wishes on land-use matters, voted overwhelmingly against the necessary zoning change earlier this month. Kristy Marmorato, the Republican city councilwoman whose district includes the proposed Bronx site, has described the plan as a 'predatory development,' though the bid has won support from other Bronx elected officials. She had no immediate comment on Wednesday. By the end of this year, New York State is poised to award up to three full-scale casino licenses in New York City and its environs, and the competition is fierce. There are bids to put casinos on Manhattan's West Side and East Side, as well as a Jay-Z-backed proposal for Times Square; there is a Queens proposal from the New York Mets owner Steven A. Cohen, another bid for Coney Island, and bids from two existing slot-machine venues at racetracks in Queens and Yonkers. Mr. Adams, the former chair of the State Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, is an ardent supporter of bringing gambling to New York City. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
18-07-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Two aldermen looking to expand, legalize video gambling in Chicago, reports say
While the Bally's $1.7 billion casino project in River West is still under construction, it may soon face new competition. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward) and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) has introduced ordinances to legalize video gambling in the city. The report said that Beale wants video gambling citywide, allowing machines in bars and restaurants. Villegas focused on the airports, authorizing machines after security checkpoints at O'Hare and Midway. Villegas told the paper, "There's an opportunity to capture an audience that may not even be going to the city." He also noted that people get to airports two hours before their flights and may have time to kill.
Washington Post
17-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Inside the high-stakes battle to win a New York City casino license
NEW YORK — A Caesars Palace casino in the heart of Times Square. A sprawling gambling hall along Coney Island's iconic boardwalk. A Hard Rock casino complex next to the home stadium of baseball's New York Mets. Eight projects are bidding for a state license to operate a casino in the lucrative New York City market, each dangling the prospect of generational investment in America's largest metropolitan region. But one — a Bally's casino proposed on a Bronx golf course once run by President Donald Trump's company — may have already run out of luck, after city lawmakers denied it a key approval this week. All of the proposed casinos, in application materials submitted in recent days, promise to create thousands of new jobs, flashy new community amenities in the form of hotels, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues and billions of dollars a year in taxable gambling revenues for the state's coffers. How realistic those promises are, though, is an open question, given the proliferation of casinos in the northeast and the explosion of online gambling in recent years, casino experts say. The arrival of full-fledged casino resorts in New York City has been years in the making. The gambling industry spent mightily to secure approval from New York voters in a referendum authorizing the licensing of up to seven full casinos with live table games back in 2013. But the state initially allowed upstate venues a head start. The state's Gaming Commission says it hopes to finally award up to three downstate licenses in December. But before then, community advisory committees appointed by lawmakers and local officials will weigh community opinions of each plan. Nearly all the casino proposals face some degree of local push back. On Monday, the New York City Council denied Bally's a needed rezoning change following local resident concerns about the environmental impact of its $4 billion proposal, which also calls for a 500-room hotel and a 2,000-seat event center. Bally's, which bought the former Trump Links course in 2023, had promised to pay Trump another $115 million if it were to secure a casino license, though that was not among the objections voiced by the Democratic majority on the council nor the Republican lawmaker representing the Bronx district. Spokespersons for Bally's declined to comment on the future of the project this week. Not surprisingly, the debate over the proposed Times Square casino has taken center stage, with supporters and opponents recently holding dueling rallies in the Crossroads of the World. Among the prominent groups opposed to the $5.4 billion plan is the Broadway League, a trade group representing America's performing arts theaters. It says a casino would draw patrons away from neighborhood businesses and threaten a theater industry still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's backers have countered that the plan, which calls for renovating a skyscraper that currently houses the Minskoff Theatre, home of long-running 'The Lion King' musical, will actually boost demand for Broadway tickets. The developers, which have also enlisted Jay-Z's Roc Nation to curate their entertainment offerings, promise $250 million in community projects, including a public safety plan designed by former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and a multimillion-dollar civil rights museum that helped earn an endorsement from the Rev. Al Sharpton. The two other casinos proposed in Manhattan — one for its West Side and another on its East Side — could face similar headwinds, given their proximity to residential neighborhoods, according to casino experts. But the proposed West Side resort, near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey, could reel in business travelers and convention attendees, if it can win over locals, said Soojin Ha, a lecturer at Cornell University's business school. Meanwhile in Brooklyn, organizers of the quirky Mermaid Parade are among those leading the charge against a Coney Island casino, arguing the plan would remove large chunks of the boardwalk's iconic amusement rides and block access to the public beach. Since the 2013 referendum, four full casinos have opened in New York, though all of them are located upstate, miles away from Manhattan. The state also has nine gambling halls offering slot machines and other electronic gambling machines but no live table games. Some three hours drive north of Manhattan are the Native American tribe-owned Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut. Two hours south are the New Jersey shore casinos of Atlantic City, and less than two hours due west in Pennsylvania is the tribe-owned Wind Creek Casino at the former site of Bethlehem Steel. Despite the competition from seemingly all corners, New York City's dense market could sustain three gambling halls, depending on where they're located, suggests John Holden, a business professor at Indiana University who specializes in gambling law. 'We typically see fairly rosy revenue projections put out by the gaming industry, but the New York City market is really without comparison,' he said. The state could hedge its bets by awarding two of the three licenses to proven winners: the racinos -- slot parlors built alongside horse racing tracks — that have been successfully operating for years in the New York City area, said Alan Woinski, a New Jersey-based gambling consultant. MGM Resorts is proposing a $2.3 billion expansion of the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway. Resorts World, owned by Malaysian casino giant Genting, is proposing a $5.5 billion investment to its gaming facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Those expansions, Woinski noted, could be rolled out in a matter of months, meaning the state wouldn't have to wait years for the construction of a wholly new site to start reaping the financial windfall. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside the high-stakes battle to win a New York City casino license
NEW YORK (AP) — A Caesars Palace casino in the heart of Times Square. A sprawling gambling hall along Coney Island's iconic boardwalk. A Hard Rock casino complex next to the home stadium of baseball's New York Mets. Eight projects are bidding for a state license to operate a casino in the lucrative New York City market, each dangling the prospect of generational investment in America's largest metropolitan region. But one — a Bally's casino proposed on a Bronx golf course once run by President Donald Trump's company — may have already run out of luck, after city lawmakers denied it a key approval this week. All of the proposed casinos, in application materials submitted in recent days, promise to create thousands of new jobs, flashy new community amenities in the form of hotels, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues and billions of dollars a year in taxable gambling revenues for the state's coffers. How realistic those promises are, though, is an open question, given the proliferation of casinos in the northeast and the explosion of online gambling in recent years, casino experts say. Gambling industry spending big, but some locals aren't sold The arrival of full-fledged casino resorts in New York City has been years in the making. The gambling industry spent mightily to secure approval from New York voters in a referendum authorizing the licensing of up to seven full casinos with live table games back in 2013. But the state initially allowed upstate venues a head start. The state's Gaming Commission says it hopes to finally award up to three downstate licenses in December. But before then, community advisory committees appointed by lawmakers and local officials will weigh community opinions of each plan. Nearly all the casino proposals face some degree of local push back. On Monday, the New York City Council denied Bally's a needed rezoning change following local resident concerns about the environmental impact of its $4 billion proposal, which also calls for a 500-room hotel and a 2,000-seat event center. Bally's, which bought the former Trump Links course in 2023, had promised to pay Trump another $115 million if it were to secure a casino license, though that was not among the objections voiced by the Democratic majority on the council nor the Republican lawmaker representing the Bronx district. Spokespersons for Bally's declined to comment on the future of the project this week. Not surprisingly, the debate over the proposed Times Square casino has taken center stage, with supporters and opponents recently holding dueling rallies in the Crossroads of the World. Among the prominent groups opposed to the $5.4 billion plan is the Broadway League, a trade group representing America's performing arts theaters. It says a casino would draw patrons away from neighborhood businesses and threaten a theater industry still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's backers have countered that the plan, which calls for renovating a skyscraper that currently houses the Minskoff Theatre, home of long-running 'The Lion King' musical, will actually boost demand for Broadway tickets. The developers, which have also enlisted Jay-Z's Roc Nation to curate their entertainment offerings, promise $250 million in community projects, including a public safety plan designed by former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and a multimillion-dollar civil rights museum that helped earn an endorsement from the Rev. Al Sharpton. The two other casinos proposed in Manhattan — one for its West Side and another on its East Side — could face similar headwinds, given their proximity to residential neighborhoods, according to casino experts. But the proposed West Side resort, near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey, could reel in business travelers and convention attendees, if it can win over locals, said Soojin Ha, a lecturer at Cornell University's business school. Meanwhile in Brooklyn, organizers of the quirky Mermaid Parade are among those leading the charge against a Coney Island casino, arguing the plan would remove large chunks of the boardwalk's iconic amusement rides and block access to the public beach. New York market could support 3 casinos, expert says Since the 2013 referendum, four full casinos have opened in New York, though all of them are located upstate, miles away from Manhattan. The state also has nine gambling halls offering slot machines and other electronic gambling machines but no live table games. Some three hours drive north of Manhattan are the Native American tribe-owned Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut. Two hours south are the New Jersey shore casinos of Atlantic City, and less than two hours due west in Pennsylvania is the tribe-owned Wind Creek Casino at the former site of Bethlehem Steel. Despite the competition from seemingly all corners, New York City's dense market could sustain three gambling halls, depending on where they're located, suggests John Holden, a business professor at Indiana University who specializes in gambling law. 'We typically see fairly rosy revenue projections put out by the gaming industry, but the New York City market is really without comparison,' he said. The state could hedge its bets by awarding two of the three licenses to proven winners: the racinos -- slot parlors built alongside horse racing tracks — that have been successfully operating for years in the New York City area, said Alan Woinski, a New Jersey-based gambling consultant. MGM Resorts is proposing a $2.3 billion expansion of the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway. Resorts World, owned by Malaysian casino giant Genting, is proposing a $5.5 billion investment to its gaming facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Those expansions, Woinski noted, could be rolled out in a matter of months, meaning the state wouldn't have to wait years for the construction of a wholly new site to start reaping the financial windfall. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
