One by one, the Strip’s largest casino operators have departed New York City’s lengthy casino-resort approval process after spending millions to woo Big Apple residents and decision-makers. 

The most stunning exit came Oct. 14, when MGM Resorts International — considered a lock by gaming experts for one of the three potential licenses — announced it was withdrawing its application for a $2.3 billion casino resort in Yonkers, 30 minutes north of New York City, citing dramatic changes in the economic and competitive conditions governing the application.

In a statement, the company said its move was forced by a reduction of the gaming license length from 30 years to 15 years, the lack of distance between competing properties and tax structure uncertainties.

“[MGM’s] decision to withdraw is the result of a frustrating project timeline, including multiple lengthy delays,” Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas told investors in a research note published shortly after MGM’s announcement. “We had heard some concerns around the MGM project on the scale of incremental taxes and potential return on investment.”

MGM Resorts said it will continue to operate Empire City Casino and the adjoining Yonkers Raceway. Under New York law, the casino has video lottery terminals, or VLTs, which operate through a central server, unlike traditional Las Vegas-style slot machines.  

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said in a statement that MGM’s departure “defies all logic, and it's nothing short of a betrayal to the people of Yonkers and Westchester County.” He said he wanted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to investigate the situation.

On Oct. 16, Hochul said she wouldn’t investigate MGM’s sudden departure.

The voluntary exit by MGM Resorts followed announcements by Las Vegas Sands in April and Wynn Resorts in May. Both companies faced persistent opposition in communities they hoped to develop multibillion-dollar resorts — Sands in Nassau County on Long Island, and Wynn adjacent to Hudson Yards West near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Caesars Entertainment’s plan for a casino resort in Times Square in partnership with real estate developer SL Green and Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, was rejected by an advisory committee in September after Broadway theater operators, local businesses and area residents forcefully objected to the project.

In a statement following the vote, Caesars said it was “disappointed by the outcome” but respected the decision of the committee, which was made up of six residents appointed by the governor, mayor and local officials.

MGM, Wynn, Sands and Caesars invested millions of dollars toward lining up locations, as well as hiring consultants, architects, developers and legal representation to push their projects. The problem, analysts noted, is that the state and city never offered a clearly designed application process.

Sands blamed New York’s potential to legalize online gaming as one reason for its departure. However, the company’s plans for redeveloping the Nassau Coliseum complex into a resort were opposed by Nassau County residents and neighboring Hofstra University.

“No one has championed any of these projects in New York. It’s not a business-friendly environment,” said Las Vegas-based gaming industry consultant Brendan Bussmann, who has been following the process long before state lawmakers approved three casinos for New York City in 2013. The state also approved as many as seven casinos in upstate New York, where four are now operating.

“New York state’s gaming policy is there is no policy. You’ve had a process that has strung out way too long, that has taken most of the major operators out of the mix,” Bussmann added.

Bennett Liebman, a professor at Albany State Law School and a long-time adviser to the late New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, told Bloomberg News the remaining three New York City locations are roughly 10 miles apart in the boroughs outside of Manhattan. 

“The chance that they attract tourists [or] foreign visitors seems somewhat unlikely,” he said.

The state’s Gaming Facility Location Board is expected to award as many as three licenses by Dec. 1, with final approval from the New York Gaming Commission expected by Dec. 31.

Ties to the Strip

The casino operators left in the running have Las Vegas connections. 

On the same day MGM departed the market, Malaysia-based Genting Berhad, which operates Resorts World Las Vegas, upped the cost for the expansion of a video lottery terminal casino at the Aqueduct Racetrack to $7.5 billion — close to what MGM paid in 2009 to open CityCenter on the Strip. Two days later, Resorts World launched a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign in support of the licensing effort.

New York-based Bally’s Corp., which is planning an entertainment and casino complex on the 35-acre Strip site where the Athletics baseball stadium is under construction, is planning a casino-resort at Ferry Point in the Bronx near the former Trump Golf Links site it now owns along the East River. 

If Bally’s wins one of the gaming licenses, the Trump Organization would be paid $115 million because of its former ownership of the golf course.

Spano, in his statement about MGM, said, “It's no secret that the big winner from this reversal will be Bally's proposal for a casino at the former Trump Links in Whitestone. It's also no secret that Bally's has a deal with Donald Trump that they will pay him an additional $115 million if they can open a casino there.”

Meanwhile, the third project still in play is being proposed by Florida-based Hard Rock Entertainment, which is transforming the former Mirage into Hard Rock Las Vegas. The company, which is controlled by the Seminole Indian Tribe, is in partnership with New York Mets owner Steve Cohen to convert Metropolitan Park in Flushing, Queens, into a casino complex adjacent to Citi Field.

NYC has long attracted Vegas companies 

When state lawmakers approved the casino expansion process in 2013, the three New York City casinos were expected to attract the top Las Vegas operators and produce roughly $5.5 billion in annual gaming revenue. At the time, the figure would have rivaled the Strip’s then annual gaming revenue of $6.5 billion.

MGM Resorts made the initial splash in the New York market in 2018 when it bought Empire City and Yonkers Raceway for $850 million. A year later, Las Vegas Sands, led by Chairman and GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, hired former New York Gov. David Paterson — a Democrat — to lead the resort developer's push for a New York City casino.

During a keynote address at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in 2014, Adelson, who died in 2021, suggested New York City was an untapped market and he considered asking New Jersey to allow the company to build a casino in the Meadowlands sports complex across the Hudson River from New York City. The location would be “a very attractive place” for a resort, Adelson said. 

However, analysts said the current status is not what New Yorkers were expecting.

Bussmann called New York “Chicago 2.0,” a city where the major Strip gaming companies took a pass on bidding for the development of a single downtown casino resort due to a 40 percent tax on gaming revenue and other burdensome requirements.

“Outside of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, name me another city in the United States that would turn down a multibillion dollar project that offers to bring investment, jobs and overall economic impact to their community?” Bussmann said. “Between taxes, community promises and the cost of doing business in New York City, it’s very hard to make the model work based on the investment to do a proper development.”

Jefferies Equity Research gaming analyst David Katz said MGM’s location in Yonkers was superior to other locations, given its highway access and convenience to appropriate customers. 

“Nonetheless, MGM ultimately made a disciplined choice under the circumstances,” Katz said. 

Analysts said they wouldn’t be surprised if New York doesn’t award all three licenses, which was confirmed by Lee Park, a spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission that controls the siting process.

“There has never been a requirement that all three licenses be issued,” Park said.

Jonas said New York’s flirtation with online gaming, which drove Sands out of the market, is another factor to consider. 

“Budgetary needs for the state remain,” he said.