The city said no to two casino projects in Manhattan

On Wednesday, two Manhattan Community Advisory Committees rejected casino bids in the Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods. In both cases, the outcome was the same, by a 4–2 vote, and support came only from representatives appointed by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

The decisions were made ahead of the September 30 deadline by which such committees must determine whether to advance an application to the next stage of state-level review. For the Hell’s Kitchen project, during the dispute over postponing the vote, separate arguments were made that there were 13 days and 9 business days left until the deadline.

How CACs work and what a rejection means

Community Advisory Committees, or CACs, are local panels that assess whether a casino project can continue along the licensing process. In essence, the vote decides whether to move on to the next round of state review, not the question of construction as such.

A CAC rejection at this stage halts the progress of a specific application in the current process. At the same time, the sites themselves and the development plans can be discussed further outside the casino-licensing format if the initiators decide to rework the projects.

Times Square and the Caesars Palace bid

The Caesars Palace Times Square project was proposed by SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment, and Roc Nation, which is associated with the musician Jay-Z. The Times Square area was named as the site, where the casino idea faced notable resistance from some local residents and the theater community.

The committee voted against it, and this means the bid does not advance further through the CAC process in its current form. For the contenders, this is not just a formality but a closed door at one of the required steps built into the pathway to three casino licenses downstate.

Complaints about the pace and an outburst after the meeting

Supporters of the bid from the executive branch insisted that the process moved too quickly. Among the arguments was that the final public hearings took place less than a week before the vote, and that the compressed schedule limited opportunities for transparency, engagement, and a full review of the materials.

The mayor’s office also called the decision premature and noted that two weeks remained for negotiations and clarifications. City Hall’s statement cited estimates of a possible $23.9 billion effect on the economy and more than 31,000 jobs that, according to the administration, could be associated with the implementation of the projects.

After the vote, in the Times Square Alliance office, representatives of SL Green, Caesars, and Roc Nation left the room. SL Green CEO Marc Holliday sharply criticized the committee, calling what happened a sign of a lack of leadership and consideration for the interests of those who could benefit from the project, and described the Adams and Hochul appointees as having shown courage.

The theater community, by contrast, viewed the outcome as a defense of the area’s cultural core. The Broadway League President Jason Laks put the position this way: a casino can appear in different places, but Broadway exists only here, and he thanked the local elected officials and committee members who voted no.

The Avenir in Hell’s Kitchen also failed to advance

The second rejected bid was The Avenir project, promoted by Silverstein Properties in Hell’s Kitchen. Here the result was the same, four votes against and two in favor, which halted the bid’s progress at the stage of the local advisory filter.

The distinctive feature of this story is that part of the discussion shifted from gambling to procedural timelines and the housing component. The developer insisted that the discussion of terms had not yet been completed, while the committee considered it possible to vote on the scheduled day.

A request to postpone and a dispute around housing

The Avenir developers asked to delay the vote for further discussion, but the committee denied this request at the September 17 meeting. Angel Vasquez, a Kathy Hochul appointee, argued that the postponement should have been approved because there were 13 days and 9 business days left until the deadline, and negotiations over the housing portion continued until the last night.

Silverstein Properties Chief Operating Officer Dino Fusco said the company was asked to include more than $1 billion in additional housing in the proposal, and that it was impossible to prepare a response in the remaining time. A representative of Tony Simone, Matthew Tye, by contrast, said the committee had not formally requested such an amendment, and Simone himself said he did not understand why the proposal appeared on the eve of the vote.

Voting logic and the alignment of interests

Matthew Tye explained both of his decisions with a single criterion: community support. According to him, the process lasted two years, and late changes do not allow residents to form an informed, balanced view; at the same time, testimony from locals at both sites was overwhelmingly against it, and messages from outside the neighborhood carried no more weight than letters and calls from local residents.

The position of City Council member Erik Bottcher mattered for two sites at once, since his district includes both Times Square and the Hell’s Kitchen site. He said in advance that after extensive consultations he would not support either bid, noting that casinos require an especially high level of public consensus, which, in his assessment, did not emerge.

The numbers cited by the sides differed. Silverstein claimed that about 50% of those speaking at the hearings supported the Hell’s Kitchen project, while Simone spoke of more than 90% opposed among district residents.

Why casino construction in New York continues to remain relevant

It is impossible to deny today’s realities – the gambling sector has largely moved into the digital space. Online casinos are able to offer players not only privacy, a variety of bonuses and incentives, and ease of access, but also the widest possible selection of games. More and more gambling entertainment options are emerging that are aimed exclusively at online casinos. These include crash games such as Aviator, Lucky Jet,  Aviatrix, JetX, as well as live “Wheel of Fortune” shows and Plinko. They cover different categories of players.

Industry websites that rank at the top of search results indicate that younger audiences more often choose online casinos for themselves than people aged 35 and over. The authors of the website https://aviatorapps.in/ about promo codes for the Aviator mobile app note that young players prefer gambling games available on smartphones.

However, in New York they are forced to use offshore sites. This is because state law explicitly prohibits the operation of online casinos where you can place real-money bets. Therefore, those who want to play legally choose land-based casinos. And the initiators of opening such establishments believe that the potential audience for their business is quite broad. Moreover, according to some studies, iGaming not only does not hinder the popularity of land-based casinos, but also contributes to its growth. After all, thanks to online casinos, the audience for such entertainment has expanded many times over.

Moving forward without these two bids

After the two votes, Tony Simone called the outcome a reflection of massive local opposition and emphasized that he remains a supporter of growth and housing construction, using the YIMBY rather than NIMBY formula, while not supporting the placement of casinos at these points. At press scrums, the everyday neighborhood priorities were also voiced; representatives of Community Board 4 and 5 spoke about a demand for affordable housing, school seats, open space, and public safety.

The decisions on Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen were the first among eight bids competing for three casino licenses downstate. Similar votes and state-level stages remain ahead for other sites, and possible next directions mentioned included other neighborhoods, including Queens.