- The New York Gaming Facility Location Board met for the primary time since bidding concluded in June
- 4 bids for 3 downstate New York on line casino licenses stay
- The Board isn’t obligated to grant all three concessions
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board met for the primary time because the state’s bidding for 3 accessible downstate on line casino licenses closed on June 27.
The Manhattan skyline overlooking the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. The five-person New York Gaming Facility Location Board started its evaluate of 4 on line casino bids for the downstate area. (Picture: Shutterstock)
Eight on line casino proposals for the coveted gaming concessions that include privileges for Las Vegas-like slot machines, live-dealer desk video games, and retail sports activities betting have been fielded. The Group Advisory Committee course of narrowed the bidding in half, with solely 4 pitches gaining native help.
The five-member Gaming Facility Location Board has the ultimate say on which bids achieve licensure. The remaining bids are Bally’s Bronx, MGM Empire Metropolis (Westchester), Laborious Rock Metropolitan Park (Queens), and Resorts World New York Metropolis (Queens).
Every license comes with a one-time charge of $500 million.
Bally’s Bronx at Ferry Level Park is a $4 billion proposal. MGM has pitched a $2.3 billion overhaul of its Empire Metropolis On line casino at Yonkers Raceway. Laborious Rock and billionaire Steve Cohen plan to speculate $8.1 billion on the New York Mets’ Citi Subject Ballpark. Resorts World proprietor Genting has provided a $5.5 billion redevelopment of its video lottery racino on the Aqueduct Raceway close to JFK Worldwide.
Board Make-up
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board is made up of 5 people with huge expertise in finance, metropolis planning, economics, business actual property, and govt management.
Board members aren’t compensated, although they’re entitled to reimbursements for his or her incurred bills. The board has rotated constantly all through its greater than decade-long existence, with the fifth member, Cindy Estrada, appointed solely 10 days in the past.
Estrada, a longtime Bronx resident, has been a small enterprise proprietor because the age of 19. She presently serves as the manager director of the New York Metropolis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Terryl Brown, appointed in February, is the vp and basic counsel at Tempo College. Marion Phillips III and Greg Reimers have been named to the board in January.
Phillips is the senior vp for neighborhood growth and DEI at US Information & World Report. He was beforehand the senior VP of neighborhood relations at New York State’s Empire Growth.
Reimers is a retired JPMorgan Chase and The Financial institution of New York govt.
The board is chaired by Vicki Been, who conceded earlier this 12 months that she’s “by no means been to a on line casino.” She added that casinos are “nowhere I need to spend my time.”
Been is the longest-serving board member, along with her appointment coming in October 2022. Been is the Choose Edward Weinfeld Professor of Regulation at New York College College of Regulation, an affiliated professor of public coverage of the NYU Wagner Graduate College of Public Service, and a school director of NYU’s Furman Middle for Actual Property and City Coverage.
Three Licenses Accessible, Not Assured
In the course of the New York Gaming Facility Location Board’s October 8 assembly, Been stated the panel can award as much as three on line casino licenses, however isn’t required to take action.
Been laid out the evaluate course of, putting a heavy emphasis on which proposal is finest suited to be financed and constructed promptly, and deciding which bids carry the strongest probability to generate important regional financial advantages.
Been clarified that the board “can” award as much as three licenses, however isn’t mandated to “award any” if the panel determines that the purposes aren’t adequately developed or wouldn’t accomplish the state’s objectives in permitting the creation of the casinos.
