New York casino roundup: State board makes site visits, USTA sues over Met Park project, and Resorts World may be cooling on its offer

After a few weeks of relative quiet, the New York casino race is heating up again. The three downstate finalists – Resorts World NYC, Metropolitan Park and Bally’s Bronx – are awaiting licensing recommendations from the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board, which are due on 1 December. There are three licences available, but as time passes, the chance of all three being awarded seems increasingly uncertain.

GFLB members made site visits to the three locations on Monday after poring over financial records and application details.

Board members were not made available to the media, and the purpose of the visits was to “obtain an understanding of the physical location and, if necessary, seek clarification regarding the transportation, parking, infrastructure and layout components of the proposal”, per the board’s website.

Meanwhile, two bidders have made headlines recently, neither for positive reasons. The US Tennis Association (USTA) last week volleyed a lawsuit at New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, which could quickly become a major hurdle for the Metropolitan Park project. The suit alleges the city broke its lease agreements with the USTA by allowing the bid to move forward, although stakeholders say an agreement has been reached.

And on Monday, Bloomberg cited anonymous sourcing in a report that Resorts World will ask the board to reconsider the terms of its proposal. The casino had been the most aggressive in its bid terms, offering a $600 million licence fee and tax rates of 56% and 30% for slots and tables, respectively.

Board making New York casino site visits

Monday’s site visits were likely the only ones of those for the five-member board. All of their other meetings have been conducted behind closed doors. Since the previous round’s deadline of 30 September, the GFLB has convened a total of seven times, including Monday.

The board has established a once-weekly cadence for its meetings so far. That would leave just one more meeting opportunity before the 1 December deadline, although the Thanksgiving holiday next week could complicate schedules.

Most of the previous meetings were held on Wednesdays but the board had scheduled a longer, formal meeting after the site visits Monday. That would allow for another meeting on 24 November before the holiday if the schedule remains the same. In any case, the board’s recommendations are technically non-binding, as the New York State Gaming Commission will ultimately have the final say over how many licences are awarded and to whom.

During the upstate New York casino licensing process in 2014-15, the GFLB recommended four casinos but only three were licensed initially. The fourth, Tioga Downs Casino Resort, was not licensed until the following year.

USTA says city, Metropolitan Park have ignored its lease

The USTA’s suit against NYC was the latest unforeseen development in a process riddled with twists and turns. Filed 12 November in New York state Supreme Court, the association alleges the city will violate its lease obligations if Metropolitan Park is allowed to move forward without its input. The USTA operates the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located adjacent to Citi Field.

Metropolitan Park itself is not a defendant in the litigation, but the project is slated for the same Citi Field parkland that is leased by the USTA from the city.

According to the suit, the USTA’s lease grants a number of rights over the land when it hosts the annual US Open tennis tournament for roughly three weeks from late August to early September. This is ensured through a “superiority clause” granted to the USTA, and includes the following protections during tournament days:

• Special parking rights for Citi Field parking lots.
• Protection from “competing events that would materially and adversely affect the US Open”, other than MLB games at Citi Field.
• Exclusive rights over “concessions, marketing, and hospitality offerings in the Park during the US Open”.
• Guarantees that the protections stretch for 23 days, the entirety of tournament play and qualifying rounds.

The USTA said it does not oppose the project overall, only the elements that would conflict with its lease. Its suit only seeks declaratory and injunctive relief instead of monetary damages.

Spokesman says a compliant agreement has been reached

Metropolitan Park is projected to cost $8 billion, the most ambitious of the remaining New York casino bidders. But the USTA pointed to the existing benefits of the US Open, which could be harmed if the city and Metropolitan Park fail to uphold the superiority clause. The tournament generates an estimated $1.25 billion in economic impact annually and welcomed 1.1 million visitors in 2025.

The suit alleges that USTA has “repeatedly asked the City to share the draft lease agreement” with Metropolitan Park, but the city “has refused to do so”.

Last Friday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Nancy Bannon granted a temporary restraining order preventing the city from ratifying a new pre-development agreement (PDA) with Metropolitan Park. Under the latter’s New York casino application from June, a PDA for the site was expected to be negotiated by Monday and signed by 31 December.

Metropolitan Park spokesman Karl Rickett told iGB that a PDA has in fact been reached with the city. The agreement is said to have complied with the court order and all sides will continue discussions moving forward.

“We have successfully signed our pre-development agreement with the city,” Rickett said. “This moves forward Metropolitan Park as a comprehensive transformation of the area that embraces the existing sports attractions to create a world-class sports and entertainment destination in the heart of Queens. This is a positive step forward for the local community and fans.”

Resorts World showing hesitancy after bullish campaign

Meanwhile, as Metropolitan Park charges forward, Resorts World appears to be trying to pull back on the extent of what it is offering the state. The racino has outdone all competitors in its quest to ensure licensure but could be getting cold feet at the last minute. Bally’s has proposed slot and table tax rates of 30% and 10%, and Metropolitan Park proposed 25% and 10%, the minimum allowed.

In its application, Resorts World dwarfed those rates by offering 56% and 30%, and it bumped its proposed licence fee by $100 million to $600 million. Bloomberg’s anonymous source said the casino will ask the state to lower its rates or raise those of its competitors.

That is likely a worrying sign for regulators and state officials. Over the last year, three big casino operators willingly withdrew from the process: Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts. MGM was considered a shoo-in alongside Resorts World, and its withdrawal was the most surprising of the three. A withdrawal or downsizing from Resorts World, the most bullish bidder, could throw the entire process into disarray.

The state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is banking on at least $1.8 billion in casino licensing fees and tax revenue in the coming years. That seemed more than attainable six months ago but now looks increasingly shaky, especially if fewer than three licences are awarded. New York state as a whole faces a projected $34 billion cumulative budget gap through fiscal year 2029.