New York’s Citi Field casino becomes fourth proposal to advance to the next stage

Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock’s proposed casino at Citi Field in Queens have stepped forward to the final stage of the license process.

That brings the total number of New York casino proposals at this stage up to four, having all received approvals from their respective Community Advisory Committees. As well as the Citi Field location, the others at this stage are Genting Group’s Resorts World New York City, MGM Resorts’ MGM Empire City and Bally’s Bronx casino.

The Citi Field proposal gained the backing of a US Senator, with John Liu seeing potential in the $8 billion project that would see a casino being built next to Citi Field. The space involved is currently 50 acres of empty parking lots that would be transformed via the privately funded project into space dubbed Metropolitan Park.

The plan is to have 25 acres of new public park space, along with a Queens Food Hall, a Hard Rock Hotel, and a casino with bars, restaurants, and a sportsbook. It’s estimated that the proposal would generate around 23,000 local jobs, with a view to ingratiating itself with the local Queens community.

The path to a New York casino license

Other proposals that have been officially rejected include proposals regarding The Coney, Mohegan, Caesars, and Rush Street Gaming. While there are four proposals remaining, there are only three casino licenses available to be handed out, with a decision expected by December 1.

As it stands, Genting and MGM have been thought to be the most likely to be expected, with infrastructures already in place with existing racinos for both of them. That leaves one further place still up for grabs, of course, but the lengthy decision-making process on the future of New York’s casinos is finally drawing to a close.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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