Downstate NYC Casinos Update: Where Three Projects Stand Entering July

In December, the New York State Gaming Commission provided licenses for three downstate casino projects. Those were Bally’s Bronx, Hard Rock Metropolitan Park, and Resorts World New York City.

These planned licenses were announced in 2023 and eight different projects were proposed before being dwindled down to the three that received licenses.

Once approved, construction on all three plans were able to begin.

Projections call for these three casino projects to generate $1 billion in annual gaming tax revenue by 2036 for New York City.

Should these casinos see success, it could aid in New York online casinos generating more momentum for legalization.

Here’s an update on all three projects and where they stand seven months later.

Resorts World Begins Casino Gaming

In late April, Resorts World New York City opened the first table games casino in the history of New York City.

Located next to Aqueduct Racetrack, over 240 table games were available upon its debut. That included blackjack, craps, roulette, and more. That was on top of already having thousands of available slot machines.

Aqueduct presented a $5.5 billion project when seeking its license. The project will eventually cover 5.6 million square feet.

Due to having the racetrack already established, Aqueduct was able to get a bit of a leg up on the other two licenses, as it has been able to over commercial casino gaming with table games over the last few months.

Resorts World has been able to add in 1,250 new jobs with the recent addition, including 950 new table games dealers. The staff is expected to reach 2,700 before the end of the summer.

Despite the casino expansion, Aqueduct Racetrack concluded live racing this past weekend after 132 years of operation. The location has acted as a racino for many years, but now will be transitioning into strictly a casino gambling location.

Projections call for the full Resorts World casino project to be concluded in late 2030 to early 2031.

Bally’s Bronx Secures Land for Casino

Bally’s Bronx is a $4 billion casino and hotel project at Ferry Point. It is slated to cover 3 million square feet and bring in around 4,000 jobs to the area.

Documentation from Bally’s indicated the project would begin construction about 8-9 months following the rewarding of their license.

That would call for ground to be broke on the project in August or September.

Prior to starting construction, Bally’s had to close out the purchase of 16 acres of land in which it planned to build the casino on.

These 16 acres is parkland property located next to 300 acres owned by the company for Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point.

Bally’s closed on the purchase in February to continue progress toward their casino plans. This casino is slated for a mid-2030 opening.

Hard Rock Metropolitan Park Behind Schedule

Hard Rock Metropolitan Park is an $8 billion project located next to Citi Field in Queens. The casino will be part of the grander entertainment hub that is being constructed in that area, which will also feature a soccer stadium and tennis center.

Unfortunately, reports indicate this project is already well behind schedule. The Queens Daily Eagle reports that construction is months behind due to testing on the foundation of the parking area having yet to begin.

Construction of the casino was slated to begin on April 1, but was also delayed, extending plans well past original projections.

Despite that, plans still call for the casino to be opened by 2030.