Bally’s Bronx New York City Casino Bid Dead Following Council Vote
Posted on: July 15, 2025, 08:18h.
Last updated on: July 23, 2025, 08:47h.
- Bally’s Bronx is dead
- The $4 billion casino application failed to gain land-use zoning permissions
- Seven casino bids remain for three downstate New York casino licenses
Bally’s Bronx, a proposed $4 billion redevelopment of the Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in Throggs Neck, is all but dead.
On Monday, the New York City Council voted against a land-use application from Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp. to have a portion of the 222-acre property rezoned for a commercial enterprise. City officials voted 29-9, with four absentees, in favor of a motion to dismiss the land-use amendments petition.
The motion to dismiss was raised by Councilor Kristy Marmorato, whose 13th District includes the Bronx.
If I make a promise to my community, I follow through. We won’t win every battle, but we will always fight for what’s right,” Marmorato declared.
Calling Bally’s Bronx a “predatory development,” Marmorato said the Throggs Neck neighborhood is predominantly opposed the casino project and that the $4 billion proposed investment “did not meet the standards” that the “community deserves.”
Project Concessions
Bally’s Bronx had pledged to deliver a “once-in-a-generation transformation” for the NYC borough often associated with crime and urban blight.
Bally’s reps said the 500K-square-foot casino with 3,500 slot machines and 250 table games would have provided $75 million in transportation upgrades, a $10 million public safety investment to the New York City Police Department, 15K union construction and 4,000 permanent union jobs on average full-time wages of $96,200, a $1.9 billion annual economic impact, and $357 million in annual tax revenue.
Bally’s Chair Soo Kim said he upped the community benefit ante continuously in response to city officials’ demands — namely Marmorato — as she persistently sought additional concessions.
“We had met the council member’s ask in terms of what exceptional community benefits they wanted. That ask was moving the goalposts from the prior ask, which we had met as well,” Kim told Crain’s New York Business. “It’s sort of nutty. What more can we do than meet the ask?”
Marmorato said she “stood with her community despite pressure and last-minute offers from the applicant.”
We thought this was a good-faith negotiation that we were told was achievable. Maybe this whole thing was done in bad faith,” Kim said.
The New York Gaming Facility Location Board can only consider casino applications from projects that have adequately satisfied all state and local zoning requirements. With the NYC Council voting against the Bally’s Bronx casino land-use rezoning, the bid is essentially dead. Bally’s $1 million nonrefundable application fee is gone, too.
Ferry Point Park, where Bally’s manages the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and had hoped to construct a casino, is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Trump Big Loser
President Donald Trump is a big loser in the Bally’s Bronx plan being defeated. The president’s company, The Trump Organization, sold the golf course lease to Bally’s in 2023 for a reported $60 million.
The transaction came with a condition that if Bally’s was able to secure a gaming license for the property, Trump would receive an additional $115 million.
With Bally’s Bronx defeated, seven casino bids remain for three downstate New York gaming licenses.
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