The New York legislature is getting an earful from an array of community, business and labor leaders calling for the speedy licensing of Resorts World New York City in Queens and Empire City in Yonkers as full-scale casinos.
Resorts World’s case was brought to state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins in the form of a petition signed by nearly three dozen individuals and organizations in and around the New York City borough who want the giant Aqueduct racino awarded one of three casino licenses designated for the downstate region by the end of the year. Governor Andrew Cuomo also received a copy.
“Covid-19 has absolutely ravaged our city and state, but the virus has been particularly damaging to those who faced significant challenges and struggles before the pandemic ever started,” the coalition wrote. “Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have lost their jobs; tax revenues that support vital services are drying up; non-profits are facing existential threats to their survival.”
Noting that Resorts World has generated more than $3 billion for New York’s public schools and other recipients in its 10 years in business, the letter claims that a full casino at the property would create thousands of jobs within months.
“Our borough and our local business community have benefited greatly from Resorts World’s commitment to Queens. RWNY attracts tourists, catalyzes economic activity that supports small businesses, creates jobs for local residents and generates billions in tax revenue,” Queens Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Grech said. “Allowing RWNY to become a full-scale gaming destination will only increase the positive impact they have on our borough and help the entire region recover from the devastation brought on by the pandemic.”
Hope Knight, president and CEO of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, added that “The ability to provide good-paying jobs with relatively low barriers to access to southeast Queens residents is crucial to Covid recovery, particularly for families of color, with quality health care and benefits to sustain a life cycle for family.”
Signees include the Queens Economic Development Corporation, Queens Centers for Progress, Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation and the Jamaica Center for the Arts.
“Beyond the jobs and revenue, during its decade of operations, Resorts World has proven to be a solid partner for the Queens community we all represent,” the letter states.
New York voters in 2013 endorsed an amendment to the state Constitution allowing seven privately owned casinos on a Las Vegas scale with live-dealer table games such as blackjack, baccarat and roulette and house-banked slot machines. Four of the licenses were designated for locations designed to provide jobs and economic development upstate. The remaining three are earmarked for the New York City area but under a moratorium delaying them 10 years to 2023 to allow the upstate casinos, which opened in 2016, 2017 and 2018, to establish themselves competitively.
The result is that Resorts World, which is owned by a U.S. subsidiary of the Malaysia-based Genting Group conglomerate, and Empire City, which is attached to Yonkers Raceway and owned by Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International, house massive casinos with thousands of machine games, but these are limited to video lottery terminals and electronic versions of traditional table games.
The push for the New York City licenses is nothing new. Genting, MGM and other big names in gaming such as Las Vegas Sands have been lobbying for years for an end to the moratorium without apparent success𑁋that is, until the pandemic hit and engendered a statewide fiscal crisis that is pressuring Albany to act this year to award them.
On March 26, a coalition of influential labor groups staged a virtual rally to tout the benefits an Empire City license would bring to Yonkers, the Bronx and the greater Westchester County region.
“Think of all of the additional union jobs this would create for the building and construction trades men and women,” said Thomas Carey, president of the Westchester-Putnam Central Labor Body. “A full-scale license means the transition would happen immediately, so we would start to see all of this impact for our unions and our communities, very quickly.”
Membership in the coalition, “A Sure Bet for New York’s Future,” as it’s called, has more than doubled over the last month to include some 60 unions and allied businesses along with community and faith-based organizations.
They say the license will generate 13,000 jobs, $75 million in additional wages, $400 million in private investment and $1 billion in economic impacts for the region.
“The workforce that would benefit from this project lives right here in Westchester and the Bronx,” said Richard McSpedon, business representative for Local 3 of the IBEW. “A full-scale casino license for Empire City Casino will support the creation of thousands of union jobs. This project makes total sense for our communities.”
“Because gaming revenues in New York are directed to the education fund, this means our state will get the resources it needs to adequately support our children’s education,” said Samantha Rosado-Ciriello, president of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers.
Jodie Reaver, a political organizer for the Southern Westchester Action Committee, said, “This has the chance to be life changing. We’re talking about thousands of good paying, family-sustaining jobs to a region that desperately needs them. For these communities, it’s as simple as that.”
