UPDATE: This text has been edited to right errors that reported the downstate NY on line casino licenses may not be awarded till January 2026.
- New York on line casino licenses for the downstate area are to be issued earlier than the 12 months’s finish
- A false report surfaced this week {that a} delay was doable
- Eight on line casino bids are searching for one of many three obtainable licenses
Greater than a decade after the coveted downstate on line casino licenses earmarked for New York Metropolis’s 5 boroughs, Lengthy Island, and Westchester County had been licensed by state laws, and two years faraway from the tip of the 10-year moratorium on the licenses being issued, the chances are good that the three permits shall be awarded earlier than the 12 months’s finish as deliberate. That’s regardless of a latest false report claiming in any other case.
Occasions Sq. is among the many focused areas in New York Metropolis for a on line casino resort. (Picture: Shutterstock)
A report surfaced this week concerning state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D), a longtime supporter of gaming within the Empire State who voted in favor of the 2013 on line casino invoice, reportedly telling a web based gaming affiliate web site that the downstate licenses might be delayed into 2026. On line casino.org initially reported on that information and sought affirmation from Addabbo’s workplace. The senator later confirmed that the report was “inaccurate.”
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board added to On line casino.org that the information report was “wholly inaccurate.” The preliminary report was subsequently retracted, and prompted our edit of this text.
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board plans to announce the winners by Dec. 1, 2025, as scheduled. The licenses are to be totally awarded by December 31, as soon as every successful bid pays its $500 million charge to the state. Pressed as as to whether the GFLB stays on observe for its December deadlines, the state official mentioned, “Sure, GFLB continues to be on observe for Dec. 1.”
Earlier than the five-member state board, which stays a member quick, can vote on which bids win licenses, the respective undertaking should safe a two-thirds majority help from its Group Advisory Committee (CAC). Every of the eight CACs is required to vote on its on line casino presentation by September 30.
There stay eight candidates — The Avenir (eleventh Ave & forty first St., Manhattan), Bally’s Bronx (Ferry Level, Bronx), Caesars Palace Occasions Sq. (1515 Broadway, Manhattan), The Coney (Coney Island, Brooklyn), Freedom Plaza (686 1st Ave., Manhattan), MGM Empire Metropolis (Empire Metropolis On line casino, Yonkers), Metropolitan Park (Willets Level, Queens), and Resorts World New York Metropolis (Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens).
New York’s 2013 gaming statute licensed 4 upstate New York casinos and three downstate. The upstate gaming market was offered a 10-year exclusivity on industrial slot machines and live-dealer desk video games, a situation designed to spur curiosity for the on line casino concessions and supply an financial jumpstart for the area. The moratorium expired in February 2023.
State Timeline
The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board’s web site was not too long ago up to date to incorporate the eight bids. The web site maintains that the “Board expects to make selections by Dec. 1, 2025, adopted by Fee licensure by Dec. 31, 2025.”
The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board had agreed to these dates throughout its June 27, 2024, assembly.
