2.6.22 - The race is on to build a casino in New York City
' ALBANY, N.Y. — A multi-billion-dollar casino in Times Square? What about rows and rows of slot machines next to Citi Field, home of the New York Mets?
Real estate developers and some of the world’s largest casino operators are scrambling to search New York City and its suburbs to find the right location for a gambling resort in the nation’s most attractive, untapped market.
A flurry of behind the scenes deal making and negotiations is underway as state leaders grow increasingly close to lifting a moratorium on new gambling facilities in New York. The high-stakes battle is likely to set off an aggressive lobbying effort in Albany, lead to clashes with community leaders in the five boroughs and attract the attention of a global industry stretching from Atlantic City to Las Vegas to Macau, China.
New York state has a ban on new casinos until 2023, but Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to end that moratorium this year, allowing up to three casinos to open downstate. And already nine gambling giants are eager to bid on the contracts and are likely to offer grandiose plans for casinos, hotels and entertainment venues to boost their proposals.
Some are even making the pitch that a new gaming hall could help the nation’s most populous city repair its pandemic-scarred economy.
“I believe in New York City. I think we are going to come back. Gaming has a proven potential to be an anchor in that recovery,” Soo Kim, chair of the Bally’s Corp. who grew up in Queens, said in an interview. '
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