Long Island Casino Opponents Love New York Licensing Delays
Posted on: March 27, 2024, 04:22h.
Last updated on: March 28, 2024, 12:19h.
On Monday, reports surfaced that it’s likely to be late 2025 before the New York Gaming Commission (NYGC) makes decisions on the winners of three downstate casino permits. That’s much to the liking of groups opposing a gaming venue on Long Island.
The “Say NO to the Casino Civic Association,” which has long opposed Las Vegas Sands’ effort to build a casino hotel at the Nassau Coliseum site, said it favors NYGC’s “slower timeline,” and that it believes regardless of how long it takes, the commission will find problems with the Sands proposal.
“Not only is the proposed site wholly unsuited to host a massive casino, the Las Vegas Sands organization has shown a willingness to bend the rules and skirt the law in pursuit of a license,” said the civic group in a statement.
It’s widely believed that one of the primary reasons why the NYGC cannot open a 30-day bidding window for the three downstate permits this year, as previously hoped, is because several gaming companies and their partners haven’t yet received necessary zoning approvals for their locations of choice. New York regulators won’t consider potential casino sites lacking those approvals.
Long Island Casino Group
The “Say NO to the Casino Civic Association” believes there’s an advantage to New York regulators delaying the bidding process and awarding of the three downstate casino licenses.
Namely, the organization sees an opportunity for Long Island residents to get educated on the potential problems associated with a gaming venue. As the group sees it, those negative outcomes include threats to community character and environmental woes that could threaten standards set forth by New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
“The 4-million square-foot mega-structure would forever change the character of our community, and bring significant, pervasive, long-term negative impacts. We are also confident that the SEQRA process will find the extensive environmental impacts that will result from building the second-largest casino in the country can’t be mitigated,” added the civic organization.
It’s not clear where the estimate that the Sands casino would be the second-largest in the U.S. comes from. But the operator has pledged to build a $6 billion integrated resort at the Coliseum site.
Outlook for Long Island Casino
While the “Say NO to the Casino Civic Association” sees value in the NYGC delaying the start of the bidding process, that longer timeline could give Sands the time it needs to get free of legal red tape. It could also give Nassau County policymakers runway with which to confirm that Hofstra University, a strident opponent of the Long Island casino, is colluding with other New York casino contenders.
That hasn’t been confirmed as of yet, but it’s an issue that’s been mentioned by Long Island casino backer and County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R). It’s clear that Hofstra opposes a gaming venue near its campus, but the university has not said that it disapproves of downstate casinos in general.
The “Say NO to the Casino Civic Association” isn’t a political group, nor does it have clear ties to Hofstra beyond being on the same side of the casino opposition issue.
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Last Comments ( 5 )
The Board of Directors of Las Vegas Sands needs to reassess the hundreds of millions of shareholder value that is being completely wasted by its senior management team. They are spending millions on lawyers, lobbyists, community benefit payments, consultants and PR executives like the former governor of NYS. The site they selected is completely inappropriate for a massive casino complex - next to two colleges, Catholic high school and a charter school, an area already massively congested with traffic, no major highways nearby, no mass transit and a community that overwhelming does not want such a massive casino that will forever destroy their suburban quality of life. It's time to pull the plug by focusing on Texas and China in order to enhance shareholder value, rather than destroy it.
According to the Las Vegas Sands zoning application filed in Aug 2023, we know the casino is approx @400,000 sq. ft. And, according to your article a few weeks ago listing the largest casino’s in the world …(“Top 10 Biggest Casinos In The World Ever,” By Kevin Lentz on March 13, 2024), we can indeed verify Las Vegas Sands plans to build the 2nd largest casino in the U.S. in Uniondale, NY. This densely populated island is already stricken w/ insane traffic, a fragile water supply and NO mass transportation to the site. This is no place for a mammoth casino and 23,000 visitors 7 days a week. Also, Blakeman’s accusation of collusion was thrown out last week by the courts. Everyone on Long Island knows our County Exec makes up these ridiculous charges every time he loses in the courts- which is often. I wish someone would investigate the campaign donations & long relationship btwn Bruce Blakeman and the Adelson family.
The only “collusion” happening in Nassau County is between our county government led by Bruce Blakeman and deep pocketed special interest groups and casino lobbyists. Aa a Blakeman’s directive (“get it done”), Nassau County legislature rushed the lease transfer to Sands in 2023 in violation of multiple laws including requirements for open meetings and SEQRA. Luckily, Hofstra stopped the illegal lease transfer through litigation. Hofstra is now 4-0 vs Nassau County in their legal battles and appeals related to the casino including the case mentioned in the article regarding collusion between Hofstra and Citi / Cohen. The collusion accusation was publicized as a smear tactic by Bruce Blakeman (he held a press conference about it!) because Hofstra stopped his illegal transfer and it was embarrassing for him. Bruce has close ties to the Sands — his brother Brad ran the Adelson family nonprofit “Freedom’s Watch”. Is it a surprise to anyone that he would have his thumb on the scale? So glad our judicial branch saved us in Nassau County from a corrupt executive branch. No one supports putting a casino here! Btw - it would be great if Casino.org could run a story on which casino proposal in NY has been the most corrupt. My bet is on Sands!!
It is obvious that the author of this story did not know about the NY Supreme Court Ruling dated March 22, 2024. Look at the last paragraph on page 12 of the document and page 13. Hofstra won the non-collusion argument in the Courts! https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=/_PLUS_6hX03kK2n4iSG6682dXA==&system=prod
The delay will also give the voters on Long Island the opportunity to weigh in on whether they want to keep or replace their local officials who have been trying to railroad the casino into their community in this November's elections. Would anyone like to bet on how many of those officials will be looking for new jobs early next year, or whether LVS will hire some of them to work at one of its other casinos as a reward for their fealty? My bet is that LVS will just abandon these officials once they are no longer useful.