Inside America’s Casinos – Stop #1: New York City

Join CDC Gaming as we embark upon a road trip Inside America’s Casinos. We embark on our journey in New York City, where things are taking shape.

The race for New York City’s casinos is no longer theoretical; it’s happening right now. If you need to see it for yourself, there’s no better place to go than Queens. So I went to check out New York’s largest borough, which will host not one, but two of the city’s casinos. What I found was two totally different sites and for now, being in Queens is one of the very few things they have in common.

Site #1: Metropolitan Park

My visit to Queens started in Flushing in the Corona Park area. More specifically, I went to Citi Field, home of the MLB’s New York Mets, where owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International are teaming up to build an $8 billion casino and entertainment complex. Expected to open in June 2030, the Metropolitan Park project is being designed as a full resort spanning 50 acres. The gaming space will include an estimated 5,000 slot machines, 375 table games, 30 poker tables, and an 18,000-square-foot sportsbook. The non-gaming parts will include a Hard Rock hotel, live-music venue, shopping, parking, and even 20 acres of public park space.

What the locals say

There is a strong organized opposition to the project from several community groups. These include the Flushing Workers Center and Guardians of Flushing Bay, which are protesting and voicing concerns about the project’s social impact, infrastructure (mainly traffic) overload, and economic displacement, which will result in a hike in housing prices in the area.

However, when I spoke to several people in the area about the prospect of a megacasino coming to their neighborhood, they mostly responded positively.

Jamal, who works as a parking attendant in Citi Field, was excited about the prospects. “I’ve been working here for many years, when Shea Stadium was around [it was demolished in 2008], and other than baseball day games, there’s nothing to do around here,” he said.

“This won’t only bring more visitors to the area; it will also bring jobs. You see all the housing projects that are coming up?” he said, while pointing to a construction site across the street to the east of the stadium. “There will be jobs for the people who will live here.”

When I asked about potential traffic and parking challenges, Jamal didn’t seem concerned. “On game day, parking and traffic are always busy. Traffic is just something we live with as New Yorkers.”

Watch a short video of this entry in Inside America’s Casinos.

Current site status

When I got there, I noticed some work going on in the remote parking lots west of Citi Field. However, just a few pieces of heavy machinery were breaking curbs and clearing pavement, nothing more. I was told that infrastructure work and full-scale construction are planned to begin soon.

Construction timelines

A mega project like this will take years to build in an open accessible site, let alone near Citi Field, where the surrounding area is densely populated with narrow streets, busy roads, and subway overhead lines. I’m no construction expert, but I think the June 2030 opening date is pretty ambitious. I hope I’m proven wrong, but having seen the current status of the site (a few diggers, some traffic cones, and broken pavement in a remote parking lot), I think many unforeseen challenges will push back the ribbon-cutting.

Limited space

It is possible that developers are also overly optimistic about the space. This will be a huge complex, 50 acres, of which 20 will be a public park. It’s hard to tell where that leaves room for parking and infrastructure and how the area will handle traffic and crowds, especially on game days.

The plans include 13,750 parking spots above and below ground, an addition of 6,000 to the 7,750 surface spaces that now surround Citi Field. But a 25,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium is also being built right across the road, along with a multi-story housing project. There’s also the US Open tennis event for three weeks every year, which has priority access to the same parking spots.

Promising numbers

Metropolitan Park is set to become one of the largest casinos in the region, estimated to generate $3.9 billion in annual revenue, $850 million in yearly tax contributions, and to create over 6,000 permanent jobs (in addition to the tens of thousands of jobs during construction). Despite the challenges and risks, the rewards are also massive. This isn’t just an epic gaming play; it’s an economic one as well.

Site #2: Resorts World

After finishing my visit to Citi Field, I went from Flushing to Jamaica to visit Queens’s second casino site. Unlike Metropolitan Park, a site planned for a future casino, Resorts World New York City is an existing casino with previously limited gaming operations that has been in operation for 15 years, and as its website says, for the time being, it’s the only casino in New York City.

Site and surrounding area

Resorts World NYC is located next to Aqueduct Racetrack, which is owned by the state of New York and operated by the New York Racing Association (NYRA). Resorts World, privately owned by Genting, is about 50 yards from the racetrack and sits on land leased from the state-owned racetrack site. Unlike Citi Field, the racetrack and casino are separated from residential areas by an overground trainline and major highways.

What the locals say

When I walked out toward Rockaway Blvd. and asked residents whether the casino affected them, reactions were generally positive. “The casino and racetrack have pretty big parking lots, which are used only for them,” said Rubio Gonzalez, a local resident. “Yeah, sometimes there’s traffic coming in and out, especially during weekends when races are on and many people go to the casino also. But it doesn’t bother us.”

Others, however, weren’t as positive. “I don’t like the casino being here,” said Tom, a worker at a nearby restaurant. “It brings bad influence to the neighborhood. Think about young people who don’t have jobs; they’re bored, so they go to gamble because it’s close by.”

The casino

Many people confuse Resorts World’s current status as a racino containing slots within the Aqueduct racetrack’s facility. However, this is far from the case. To get to the casino, you have to exit the racetrack and walk about 50 yards to enter a completely different venue. Unlike the racetrack, which looks a bit worn and is more of a public/communal facility, the marble-clad lobby (which serves the casino and the adjacent Hyatt Regency hotel) offers a more high-end experience.

The gaming floor itself is impressive. Spanning about 330,000 square feet and currently hosting 6,500 slots and electronic table games, Resorts World’s casino is divided into the Times Square area on the first floor, which, as the name suggests, is designed to offer a more fun, high-energy atmosphere. I felt it right away as the slots and electronic table games were clustered together, surrounded by bars and food options. It had a very social, friendly vibe.

I then continued to the Fifth Avenue area on the second floor, which offers a much more refined, upscale, gambling experience. The second floor was much quieter, probably because of the higher-limit slots. The wide spaces and floor layout also offered a more private experience, rather than the party downstairs.

The biggest, and possibly sole, thing that didn’t make me feel like I was in a full-fledged casino was the absence of live table games. As regulation currently doesn’t allow table games with live dealers, Resorts World offers electronic table games, hosted by virtual dealers on screens. Although dealers followed my movement around the tables and greeted me as I sat to play, it still felt like I was interacting with an avatar, worlds apart from the personal experience I have with human dealers when I sit to play at other casinos. Still, the tables were full of players who were interacting with one another.

Expansion plans

Following the recent approval of a full casino license, Resorts World NYC is undergoing a major transformation to become a complete casino facility, adding hundreds of table games hosted by live dealers. A $5 billion plan was already approved to upgrade the venue, expanding the casino floor to 350,000 square feet in the first phase and, in the longer term (expected around 2030), transforming it into a megaresort with a gaming floor of up to 500,000 square feet.

Upwards of 250 table games are planned to be added initially, adding 150 more shortly thereafter. So, although slot machine numbers will remain relatively constant, the casino expects to have up to 800 table games at the final stage.

Resorts World announced plans to be the first casino in New York City and the first to offer live-dealer tables. It is backing its announcements with concrete actions. As I walked into the lobby, one of the first things I noticed was a very busy hall full of people huddling around about a dozen game tables of different kinds. But I noticed they weren’t gambling. The sign on the door made it clear to me; it read “Dealer School.”

Final thoughts

Between traffic cones, a few pieces of heavy machinery, and many ambitions rising on the Citi Field parking lot and the already-buzzing gaming floor at Resorts World, it’s clear that the New York City casino race is already happening.

Each of these proposals has its own unique vision: one tied to the energies of a surrounding community and a major league ballpark, the other looking to transform its existing gaming operation from a local casino to a Vegas-style megaresort. I didn’t make it to the Bronx, but the Bally’s Bronx casino proposal adds another dimension to the gambling race.

A lot will still depend on final zoning and licensing issues, objections, and unforeseen challenges and delays. But after walking around these sites, I can safely say that the ship has set sail. New York City is on its way to becoming one of the most prominent casino destinations in the country. It won’t happen overnight, but the momentum is there and I don’t think it can be stopped.