On Monday (June 2), Jay-Z visited New York’s State Capitol Constructing in Albany. The aim of the shock look by the rapper and entrepreneur was to satisfy with State Senate Minority Chief Andrea Cousins, with a view to focus on a bid by his Roc Nation firm to safe a gaming license to open what can be New York’s first Black-owned on line casino.
Jay-Z’s hope is to open a Caesar’s Palace on line casino in Instances Sq., with Caesars Leisure and SL Inexperienced Realty. He defined his plans for the challenge in an open letter again in 2023. “We’re New Yorkers. Supporting and offering alternatives for our neighborhoods and group isn’t simply part of Roc Nation’s ethos . . . It’s our collective duty,” the rapper mentioned within the assertion. “Any proposal that wins a gaming license will undoubtedly revenue. Our imaginative and prescient is to present again to New York and be certain that the Broadway group, Hell’s Kitchen, and the encompassing companies and areas all profit. And never only for a minute, however for the long-term.”
Final fall, Roc Nation proposed a reported $450 million in grants for the communities in Hell’s Kitchen and surrounding areas in the event that they have been efficiently granted approval on their bid. Based on The Robb Report, the primary $15 million would go to the group, with common grants based mostly on 0.5% of the on line casino’s efficiency to be doled out. An area belief can be chargeable for administering the funds to these in want and for infrastructure enhancements in Hell’s Kitchen and the Instances Sq. space.
If profitable, Jay-Z would grow to be the second Black proprietor of a on line casino in america – the primary was Don Barden, who in 2002 acquired three Fitzgeralds casinos within the Las Vegas space for $149 million. Presently, the Genting Group owns and operates the Resorts World On line casino on the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. New York State is about to award three gaming licenses this yr, and Senate Deputy Majority Chief Michael Gianaris has already backed an $8 billion on line casino proposal for the Metropolitan Park advanced proposed by New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen.
