Billionaire Mets proprietor Steve Cohen is urgent ahead along with his bold plan to rework the realm round Citi Subject right into a year-round vacation spot, with a on line casino undertaking on the heart of his proposal. Partnering with Laborious Rock, Cohen has positioned his bid as a significant financial driver for Queens, pitching not solely gaming but additionally eating places, leisure, and group growth across the ballpark.
The plan, nonetheless, isn’t with out hurdles. One of many key points dealing with state gaming regulators is whether or not to grant a license to a undertaking situated so near present racinos. Cohen’s on line casino would sit simply 10 miles from Aqueduct’s Genting Resort World, whereas Bally’s is simply a brief distance from MGM’s Empire Metropolis facility at Yonkers Raceway. Regulators fear {that a} new property so close to to present operators might cannibalize their enterprise, making the ultimate determination removed from simple.
Cohen’s bid stays among the many highest-profile within the competitors, particularly as some notable rivals have already been shut down. Earlier this 12 months, the splashy Occasions Sq. proposal backed by Roc Nation, Jay-Z, SL Inexperienced, and Caesars Leisure was rejected, eliminating one of the crucial closely promoted bids in Manhattan. That growth has left the Cohen-Laborious Rock plan as one of many main contenders, with fewer rivals within the race for one of many restricted downstate licenses.
Nonetheless, Cohen isn’t the one billionaire with a imaginative and prescient for New York’s on line casino future. Developer Stefan Soloviev, in partnership with Mohegan Solar, continues to push the “Freedom Plaza” undertaking alongside the East River, a bid that is still into account and provides strain to what’s already a crowded subject.
For Mets followers, Cohen’s undertaking carries implications past gaming. His imaginative and prescient for Willets Level extends into making a dynamic leisure district that might draw guests nicely after the baseball season ends. Whether or not state regulators conform to convey a on line casino to Queens might finally reshape each the crew’s neighborhood and the town’s aggressive on line casino panorama.
