You may be correct, and obviously my optimistic estimate would be based on Resorts World and Empire City getting licenses and not needing to build anything.

That being said, I am very curious to see where the 3rd one may go, and who to.

It will be interesting to see where they end up putting rooms and how it affects the landscape of poker in the greater NYC area.

I’d say 2023 or 2024 is a good timeline for when poker can start in nyc. 2022 is most likely too optimistic. As for locations it would probably be empire and queens. I doubt they do a third location for now

Third location will obviously take the most time to construct, but there's no reason to do this, and not do a 3rd.

In the article posted by sirppup, the guy they spoke to in the Hochul administration basically said "we'll consider all bids and if someone goes crazy it'll probably win". I'd bet the casinos to offer the most money will be in Manhattan or very close by and someone will swoop in with a "Godfather" offer for something insane.

Can you imagine

Yea I’m not saying a third wouldn’t happen at all, but definitely would take more time then the first two to implement, the first two literally have empty space inside their buildings which they probably intentionally kept empty to expand with real table games at some point. If I’m not mistaken queens has a lot of empty space, could probably even run a wpt there

Somewhere in mid/downtown Manhattan would be crazy, that would be popping pretty much 24/7

As awesome as this would be for NY/NJ grinders, can't see a operator having the financing for the massive investment to build a casino from the ground up in midtown (beyond LV Sands who recently sold their properties in Vegas & Bethlehem, PA to possibly make a home run move in NY). More likely Empire & Resorts will get 2 out of 3 of those new licenses to expand casinos already in place.

I disagree. It would be a license to print money, and financing is readily available. Could probably retrofit an existing vacant hotel to start and then build from there.

More likely, I think, would be a casino operator partnering with a developer, maybe on a project that's already somewhere between concept and construction. Something like TSX at the north end of Times Square is probably too far along to jump into, but that sort of thing...big hotel, massive amounts of entertainment/cultural/retail space.

Or existing space...the Hilton on 41st/42nd that closed, and some of the big vacancies in the adjoining mall?

I suspect there will probably be zoning and community board hurdles to dropping a casino in any prime location. Finding feasible space might be the easy part.

To be clear, I'm not doubting any operator being able to *get* financing for a midtown casino & I'm 100% on-board with it actually happing. Just providing a view on why potential operators *might* question if they can recoup as more likely they will not renovate an existing space but will go all out to make it a tourist destination.

I totally understand the idea of "it you build it they will come" when it comes to profit but even in the most populous (& potentially most degenerate) city in America can have a point where the start-up cost doesn't cover the profit over time if the operator doesn't have a monopoly over the market (as there will be 2 other licenses/casinos in NYC). Especially going into the uncertainty of how COVID will impact future traffic patterns.

Bids for a casino in the most populous metropolis in the entire world (Tokyo) by MGM, Sands, etc. have been rescinded because there was a point where they calculated that the numbers didn't work (& to be fair because of future COVID implications) . We seen casinos fail in Atlantic City, we seen casinos fail in Las Vegas.

Third one might be somewhere in Long Island now that I think about it. But yea a hypothetical casino in Times Square would literally be printing money I don’t care what the startup costs are. And that’s even with yonkers and queens. Ppl wouldn’t go out there unless they live near there, 42nd would be the best of both worlds. A wpt in midtown Manhattan? That would break every record in terms of attendance lol

I'm a Manhattan based real estate agent, and you couldn't be more wrong.

The entire world will throw money at whoever get approval to do this, if they did get approval. That's the hard part. The money is easy

Or something like this, already being kicked around, behind closed doors

https://www.casino.org/news/vornado-...-casino-plans/


“It makes perfect sense for the third and final license to go to Manhattan. Being the center of everything, Manhattan will generate, by far, the highest revenue for our education system; after all, aren’t we in it to maximize the tax revenue?,” argues the Vornado boss.

"As for Vornado, while it’s not a traditional gaming REIT, it’s not inexperienced in the industry, either. It previously held a portion of the land of MGM’s Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ, which was unencumbered last November."

And they're already been involved in financing the Borg...

[QUOTE=newarknjpoker;57517890]To be clear, I'm not doubting any operator being able to *get* financing for a midtown casino & I'm 100% on-board with it actually happing. Just providing a view on why potential operators *might* question if they can recoup as more likely they will not renovate an existing space but will go all out to make it a tourist destination.

Already clarified this point in the following comment. Again, just pointing out the "casino in (location X) will be a cash cow" for everyone rational hasn't always paid off in other parts of the world. Not into debating hypotheticals (especially when I'm PRO NYC casino).

One bad part about an nyc casino is there will be a bunch of people asking for money in/around the casino and lingering.

I've heard rumors about Belmont and the Hamptons being potential locations, I think they're both pretty stupid options, mostly because I don't want to drive to Long Island lol

Hard Rock is building a hotel in Times Square. Opening this year. I wonder if they designed the space with plans to retrofit a casino, if needed.

Even after NJ voted down expanding casino gaming beyond AC in 2016, Hard Rock still had interest in putting a casino at the Meadowlands site. So they'll *definitely* be a player for NYC. Whether they would specifically add a poker room is questionable since there is no poker currently at their AC property. Guessing they would allocate a space in NYC for poker since there wouldn't be a Borgata-type equivalent already in place.

I think that once the NYC casinos happen, the North Jersey bill is going to be brought back to life and pass. They will see the affect it will have on Atlantic City. They won't only lose their substantial NYC based players, but a bunch in North NJ who don't want to have to travel two hours to AC to degen. I don't think they'll have a choice but to revive their Meadowlands plans + the other ones they wanted to do on the Jersey waterfront.

There’s going to be about 3 million square feet available in the Meadowlands at some point in the not too distant future…

NJ would have to amend their state constitution to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City. The 2016 vote was 77% opposed. It would be a heavy lift to convince voters to approve an amendment.

Even beyond the legislative hurdles, I was shocked to read Hard Rock is adamant that they think the markets can support an AC, North Jersey, and NYC casino. I'm no industry expert but I just don't see that as possible

NYC had 67 million tourists in 2019

Throw ac out the equation and the market could support it very easily