Another New York City Casino Bid Rejected, Freedom Plaza Latest Pitch Ditched
Posted on: September 22, 2025, 09:52h.
Last updated on: September 22, 2025, 10:34h.
- There won’t be a casino in Manhattan
- Freedom Plaza was the last remaining casino bid for Manhattan
- Five casino bids remain for three downstate New York licenses
And then there were five remaining downstate New York casino bids.
On Monday morning, the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Freedom Plaza proposal, a more than $11 billion tender for an integrated resort casino on Manhattan’s East Side near the United Nations Headquarters, voted 4-2 against the scheme. Soloviev Group and Mohegan were behind the bid.
It was the third 4-2 CAC vote against a downstate New York casino project following similar vote outcomes for Caesars Palace Times Square and The Avenir in Hell’s Kitchen.
“Freedom Plaza was a transformative project that promised benefits that our community deserved and was built upon a sustained engagement with neighbors, civic leaders, and stakeholders across the city that recognized this once-in-a-generation opportunity. We are proud of our partnership with Mohegan. Manhattan is the undisputed capital of the world, and it deserved a fully integrated resort that would have attracted visitors while serving the needs of its community,” said Soloviev Group CEO Michael Hershman.
Freedom Plaza’s dismissal means there won’t be a casino in Manhattan. Two of the remaining five bids are in Queens (Resorts World New York City, Metropolitan Park), one is in the Bronx (Bally’s), one is in Westchester County by way of Yonkers (MGM Empire City), and the fifth is in Brooklyn’s Coney Island (The Coney).
Freedom Plaza was supported by only two of its six members — Nichols Silbersack, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) appointee who serves as her deputy policy director, and Jennifer Sta. Ines, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ appointee. Ines is the deputy borough commissioner of Manhattan.
The four other CAC members — Sandra McKee, Reshma Patel, Celeste Royo, and Jasmine Narula, respectively representing state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Manhattan), Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-District 74), Borough President Mark Levine, and Councilmember Keith Powers — voted against Freedom Plaza.
Community Opposition
Though the Soloviev Group and Mohegan claimed strong local support, Community Board 6 formally opposed the project through a resolution. Though the Community Board had no formal power to halt the bid, the CAC members seemingly acknowledged the community’s opposition.
I could not be prouder of the East Side community for fighting back and defeating this impractical casino proposal. Beating back this proposal took a village, but we all showed up and made our voices heard. But this is not the end, just the beginning. We must work hand in hand with the Soloviev Group to make sure this land does not continue to sit idle, and instead is developed in smart, thoughtful ways to give back to the community,” Kyle Athayde, a former CB6 chair who is running for city council, told Casino.org.
A three-fifths majority from a CAC is needed to advance a bid to the New York Gaming Facility Location Board. Before its final vote, the Freedom Plaza CAC tipped its hand that it would not be approving the project after rejecting the amended bid last week to include more than 1,000 affordable housing units.
No Manhattan Casino
The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board will award the three downstate casino permits before December 1. It can only grant licenses to projects that gain CAC support.
MGM’s Empire City in Yonkers and Genting’s Resorts World continue to strengthen their odds of procuring full-scale gaming licenses, which include Las Vegas-like slot machines, live-dealer table games, and retail sports betting. Hard Rock’s bid in Queens, with Steve Cohen, presumably has the next-best odds, with The Coney and Bally’s Bronx facing longer odds.
Last Comments ( 2 )
If any Nevadan based gaming operations wins a location in NYC or anywhere in NY, I call them out to conduct an investigation into the entire process by all applicants and tell the public there was no bribery or other illegal actions in determining which company gets what location, as well as, what was paid out by all companies to all persons, to be considered. All persons would be lobbyists, attorneys, who then pay lobbyists, political donations, paying relatives or friends of politicians, etc. Deep inside of me tells me this whole process has milked tens of millions, if not more, from interested parties, In 2012 MGM spent upwards of 40,000,000 to “back” a statewide referendum in Maryland to enable the National Harbor license, which they eventually obtained that license. Then they paid the state licensing fee of like 20+ million for National Harbor then paid around 80+ million for a 15 year gaming license in Springfield Mass. in other words, MGM spent over 100,000,000 in obtaining gaming licenses in just 2 states. (I’m going by a weak memory, so do your homework to get the numbers and locations correct) Tell me there were no shenanigans at all anywhere to obtain these licenses and no one was influenced by the MGMs money, or even their partners money… I’ll bet in NYC law firms and lobbyists are making a fortune from the casino bidders, as are the friends and family of the local authorities and NY politicians. Just a hunch something’s fishy and I think NV Gaming should make sure NV licenses operators are not paying to play, which some call that bribery.
Now if they said they would implode the UN……