The committee that looked into Resorts World NYC only had good things to say about it before sending it on to the state for approval.
On Thursday, Resorts World NYC's parade of adulation continued. The project's community advisory committee in Queens provided wonderful testimonies before unanimously accepting the proposal with a 6-0 vote. The state's Gaming Facility Location Board (GFLB) will now look at the project.
The GFLB will now go through another series of reviews, which will last until December 1, the board's deadline. The panel chosen by the state will look over all the remaining bids and suggest which ones should be licensed to the New York State Gaming Commission. After that, the commission will have until December 31 to give out up to three commercial licenses in downstate.
Eight concepts got it to the CAC round, and Resorts World was seen as the best option from the start. Resorts World already has a casino, and it plans to open in July 2026, which is by far the fastest in the industry. The video lottery terminal facility has been open since 2011 and has brought in billions of dollars in taxes throughout that time.
MGM Empire City, another racino, has the same benefits and was also unanimously approved earlier in the day. The CACs turned down three casino projects in Manhattan. This means that after the votes for the two racinos on Thursday, there will be three more bidders to look at.
Resorts World's first and second hearings had the most popular support of all the New York casino applications. That public support, along with the bid's already strong points, made acceptance almost a sure thing. It looks like Queens is in a good position to get at least one casino licence. The CAC vote for Metropolitan Park, which is also in Queens, will take place on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
"Sorry Jay-Z, we win again," remarked Queens Borough President Donovan Richards during the Resorts World vote. He was talking about how the rapper's endorsement of Caesars Times Square didn't work out. "I just had to rub that in." You can tell the president of Brooklyn that I say hello. That stated, I vote yes.
Resorts World is now in the GFLB phase.
Resorts World has to pay a $1 million application fee before the GFLB phase can start. Like the CACs, the board members are not connected to the industry and were chosen just for this procedure. The current members of the board are:
Vicki Been, chair: She was appointed in 2022 and is a professor at NYU School of Law.
Terryl Brown was named vice president and general counsel at Pace University in 2025. Marion Phillips III was named senior vice president of community development and diversity, equity, and inclusion at US News and World Report in 2025.
Greg Reimers: Retired finance executive who was appointed in 2025
The board will have to think about a lot of things, like revenue predictions and how they might affect current facilities and other potential licensees. Each applicant has given estimations based on different licensing situations. Also, the board will judge each initiative that comes before it based on four weighted criteria:
70% of the time, it's about business development and economic activity.
Local Impact Siting (10%)
Improving the workforce (10%)
Diversity Framework (10%
Resorts World will also be able to suggest and talk about its own tax rate. This percentage can be more than 25% for slot machine income and 10% for other types of gambling. But MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle claimed recently that his company was told it had to match the property's current pricing. VLTs have a tax rate of roughly 55%. You also have to keep your promises on horse racing purses.
Resorts World doesn't appear to have a problem with this. Last year, they promised to pay $1 billion or more in taxes per year.
Who will be left to fight the racinos?
It wasn't surprising that the committee approved the two racinos, but the main concern now is what other bidders will do to go past the CAC phase and be considered by the state.
Because the CAC votes weren't final choices, it seemed like committees could want to preserve the pool of applicants as big as possible for as long as feasible. All of the CAC appointees made by Governor Kathy Hochul and NYC Mayor Eric Adams have voted yes in every vote so far. This could be proof of this.
But things didn't go that way; all three ideas for Manhattan were swiftly turned down. Three members of The Coney's CAC, who are supposed to vote on Monday at 3 p.m., have already said they will vote against the project. For proposals to move forward, four of the six members of the committees must vote in favour.
If The Coney is turned down, Bally's Bronx and Metropolitan Park would be the only other applicants left. Bally's has listened to its CAC's requests, but it is having trouble with its finances and operations. Steve Cohen, the millionaire owner of the New York Mets, has lobbied for Metropolitan Park, but it is also in Queens. This raises the question of whether two of the three licenses would belong to one borough.
These examples show that even when there are three licenses available, authorities might not give out all three, or at least not all at once.
