Right off the top, let’s congratulate Genting Group and MGM Resorts International for both being tapped—unanimously—by their community advisory committees. Both now advance to Albany for the final selection round, an agony that state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D) is trying to drag into 2026. Enough already!
Few wanted to say it, but this was life or death for both Resorts World New York City and MGM Empire City. Without an infusion of Class III slot machines and table games, the fate of the two racinos would be sealed. Not right away, perhaps, but attrition to a Class III-powered rival would be unpleasant … and avoidable. The virtues of incumbency were considerable, not least that New York City denizens had gotten used to them and generally liked what they saw. (Community support for Resorts World was across the board, in particular.) By contrast, the sudden imposition of a megaresort into the midst of Manhattan was a most unwelcome idea.
As everyone expected from the get-go, the contest now becomes a throwdown of multiple contenders for one license. Don’t get your hopes up for The Coney. Its goose was cooked earlier this week when two-third of its CAC publicly voiced their opposition. Thanks for playing, Thor Equities, and don’t let the doorknob hit you in the butt. Bally’s New York, once a distant long shot, is still very much alive, however. There’s more community opposition to it than faced by MGM (little) and Genting (none), so Soo Kim can’t pop the champagne just yet, even if Mayor Eric Adams (R) is going to get the Trump Organization its $115 million kickback if it kills him.
Also very viable is Metropolitan Park, the alliance between New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International. The latter has the best brand name in gaming and (compared to Bally’s Corp. especially) an impressive track record of ground-up casino creation. Also, the idea of synergizing a ballpark and a casino is very much in vogue these days. Finally, power brokers are lining up behind it, including state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D), who has done an about-face on her opposition. Throw in the size of Cohen’s planned investment ($8 billion) and this is still the favorite to grab License #3. Throw in Bally’s lack of credible financing for its Bronx proposal and Cohen looks like a much better bet to get the job done.
As for Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), if their surrogates on the Coney Island CAC vote as expected, they will be giving the finger to the public. Coney Islanders have been overwhelmingly against the Thor project, and both Hochul and Adams would have to be politically deaf—if not suicidal—to try and impose it on them at this late date. Those two worthies have consistently failed to read the room throughout the CAC process and, had eight casino pitches been advanced to Albany via rubber-stamping at the community level, there’s no way this gets done expeditiously.
The biggest obstacle remaining between Genting and MGM is New York State Gaming Commission Chairman Brian O’Dwyer. He’s been making baleful noises about possible regulatory approval. Both companies got caught back in Nevada with their mitts in the money-laundering cookie jar. New York State has a chance to send a stronger message on that front than either the federal government on the Nevada Gaming Commission did. Will O’Dwyer keep the two companies away from the brass ring? Probably not but he’s in an excellent position to make them squirm.
You know “event contracts” are a thing when South Park sends them up as the centerpiece to its latest episode. Their ubiquity and tastlessness (“The Palestinians and the Jews are not two football teams you bet on!“) was deftly skewered on the Comedy Central mainstay. Don’t take our word for it: Stream it now. It’s a sad day for legacy news media when South Park can explain prediction markets with far more clarity than the MSM can.
Smoke and mirrors. Bad news for clean-air advocates: Their voice in New Jersey, gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill has—in true Democratic Party fashion—frittered away a seven-point lead on opponent Jack Ciattarelli (R). The latter favors keeping the smoky status quo in Atlantic City, which could calcify into permanence if he’s elected. But, as hot-button issues go, smoking in the casino is nothing compared to high electrical bills and property taxes, as far as Garden State voters are concerned.
Gridiron Grumbles: In the spirit of charity, let’s leave the Las Vegas Raiders out of this. Our apologies to everyone who watched that dog of a game last night on Thursday Night Football. After three quarters of utter ineptitude, the Arizona Cardinals finally showed up to play in the fourth frame. Meanwhile, the vaunted Seattle Seahawks defense coughed up a 17-point lead, helped by some boneheaded decisions on offense. The agony went to overtime and never should have, with the Seahawks escaping town by dint of a long field goal. The Athletic had the nerve to call it a “late-night NFL classic,” which suggests that standards have fallen precipitously. If that was a classic, we’re Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.
Was going to comment on a previous post regarding smoking in AC but since you brought it up again, I will put it here.
As a young gambler used to the smoke free casinos of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, I went to AC for the first time in August. Just the smoking alone makes me not want to go back. Some of the casinos had unique machines or VP paytables I can’t find here but the smoke is just too much. Smoke wafts into the non-smoking areas and then VP areas are usually smoking because they’re not going to buy two sets of VP machines.
Even my desire to go to Vegas goes down because only Park MGM is non-smoking to my knowledge.
In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill had an 8 point lead two weeks ago, now it seems to be a “dead heat’. Don’t know yet if the Naval Academy not allowing her to attend her graduation ceremony will cause any further downgrade in her popularity. Report said she didn’t “cheat” at the Academy, but failed to report her fellow classmates that did cheat.