NYS casino licensing decisions delayed until late 2025

ALBANY — New York likely won’t award downstate casino licenses before late 2025, state regulators said Monday, as the timeline bidders expected keeps pushing back.

Among the companies expected to seek a casino license is Las Vegas Sands, which has proposed a $4 billion casino resort on the Nassau Coliseum site.

The adjusted timeline was outlined by state Gaming Commission Executive Director Robert Williams, who told board members Monday “practically it makes little sense” to open what will be a 30-day window for companies to put in bids until multiple regulatory hurdles are cleared — which could determine the companies that actually bid for the licenses.

The issues include New York City zoning and land-use reviews and state environmental reviews that will take up most of 2024, Williams said.

Then, each bidder must get approval to move forward from a local “citizens advisory council” — which, realistically, won’t happen before mid-2025.

As a result, the casino siting board won’t be ready to make licensing decisions until “late 2025,” Williams said. He noted the state hasn't been banking on receipt of casino fees before the 2025-26 fiscal year. 

“Staff believes the timeline accommodates the existing statutory requirements … and allows sufficient time for local zoning approvals, which will enable the best, most comprehensive plans for commercial casino development,” Williams told the board.

In January, lobbyists and industry insiders said they expected the 30-day bidding window to begin in the first half of this year, though by February it was clear the process wasn’t moving that quickly.

A gambling law expert called a new timeline “inevitable.”

“I don’t think they had much choice if you’re going to require all the zoning decisions in advance and the citizens advisory council decisions. That all has to be time consuming,” said Bennett Liebman, a government lawyer in residence at Albany Law School and a former member of the state’s Racing and Wagering Board, which morphed into the Gaming Commission. Still, he said the push back until the end of next year was a bit surprising.

“I think it was a wise move — it’s good to let [bidders] know,” Liebman said. “But you don’t normally expect them to put it off that far. That’s a long time off.”

He said the delay may be beneficial to companies facing legal hurdles. That includes Sands, whose lease to operate the Coliseum recently was declared invalid by a state judge. Nassau County is appealing.

Sands declined to comment Monday.

The licensing delay also might give time to companies that need state approval of land-conveyance legislation for bids that involve parkland. Those projects include the Hard Rock/Steve Cohen proposal near Citi Field in Queens and Bally’s proposal for Ferry Point in the Bronx.

Conversely, a main selling point for MGM/Yonkers Raceway has been “they’re ready to go,” Liebman said. Harness racing and video slots have been operating at the track for years, so Yonkers wouldn’t have to sort through tricky zoning and local-approval issues.

Williams said another reason for waiting to open the 30-day bidding window is that when bids are submitted, companies must provide evidence they can fully fund the casino projects. Asking for such documentation too far ahead of license awards could impact bids, he said.

“The encumbering of money well in advance of when a determination on licensing is made could substantially increase the costs of access to the capital markets, which could have an unintended impact of causing a reduction in the size and scope of a proposal,” Williams said.