The first round of local community advisory committee meetings for all eight downstate New York casino licences is now complete, after Bally’s Corp on Friday gave a presentation on its proposed $4 billion integrated resort in the Bronx.
It was a packed house inside a Residence Inn meeting room to see the presentation, and for good reason. Bally’s proposal has been boosted twice by New York City Mayor Eric Adams. In June, Adams helped the project pass a city council vote on its parkland rezoning bill by lowering the threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority. Then when the council rejected a separate vote for the project in July, Adams stepped in again and vetoed that decision, at which point the council stood down.
The mayor, who had federal corruption charges against him dismissed earlier this year by the Department of Justice, has maintained that his actions are not an endorsement. Rather, Adams says, they are an effort to ensure that the field of bids is as wide as possible for up to three available downstate licenses.
Bally’s is proposing a large-scale integrated resort complex on a golf course it owns at Ferry Point. The course was purchased from the Trump Organization, and the deal includes an additional $115 million kicker to the seller if the site is awarded a license.
WATCH BALLY'S NY CASINO CAC ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING ...Starts about 5 minutes in.
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