MGM Empire City Casino Proposal in New York’s Yonkers Will Meet Its Fate Next Week
Posted on: September 19, 2025, 09:37h.
Last updated on: September 19, 2025, 10:29h.
- MGM Empire City’s Community Advisory Committee will vote on the project next week
- MGM Empire City has presented a $2.3 billion overhaul of the racino
- MGM is considered a frontrunner for one of the three downstate New York casino licenses
MGM Empire City is one of six remaining bids for New York’s three available downstate casino licenses. The project will meet its fate next week when its local Community Advisory Committee votes on the $2.3 billion proposal.
The downstate New York City casino pool narrowed to six this week after Caesars Palace Times Square and The Avenir were both voted down by their respective CACs. That only improves the odds of MGM Resorts International, the longtime frontrunner for one of the licenses, to overhaul its Empire City Casino into a full-scale gaming destination with traditional Las Vegas-style slot machines, live-dealer table games, and retail sports betting.
The MGM Empire City Community Advisory Committee has met four times. Their fifth meeting, scheduled for next Thursday, September 25, is when the five-person panel will vote on the project. For the bid to proceed to the New York Gaming Facility Location Board, the state agency that will ultimately decide where New York’s downstate casinos will operate, a three-fifths majority, or three of the five votes, must be in the affirmative.
Odds are Good
While many of the downstate New York casino bids have faced local pushback from communities and government officials, MGM’s play in Yonkers has generally been well received. Yonkers has been home to Empire City, a racino that offers electronic table games and slot-like video lottery terminals (VLTs), for nearly two decades.
In January 2019, MGM acquired the Westchester County property from the Rooney family for $850 million in cash and stock. The purchase was designed to give MGM an upper hand in obtaining a full-scale gaming license in the New York City metro area.
The three casinos were authorized through state legislation in 2013, but licenses weren’t allowed to be issued before 2023. The 10-year moratorium was to allow four upstate New York casinos to open without downstate competition.
MGM has been a strong community partner to Yonkers and Westchester County for more than half a decade. Since its takeover, the casino company has contributed $1.6 billion to the state’s education fund through its gaming proceeds.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, whose office has a seat on the CAC, is supportive of the MGM plan. Spano says if Empire City isn’t awarded a full-scale casino license, “it’s very unlikely that Empire City will survive long-term.”
That would threaten more than 1,000 jobs that Empire City currently provides, and many millions of local tax dollars and associated economic activity.
MGM Empire City Plan
Upon receipt of a full-scale casino license, MGM says it will embark on $2.3 billion transformational overhaul of the racetrack casino. The gaming floor would undergo a full renovation and expansion to include a high-limit lounge and BetMGM Sportsbook. The scheme would bring a 5,000-seat entertainment venue and meeting spaces that would have the flexibility to accommodate special events like local graduations to the property.
Three new full-service restaurants and the renovation of existing food and beverage venues would be completed. A parking garage with solar energy arrays and electric vehicle parking would be another amenity.
Empire City Casino and Yonkers Raceway have anchored the entertainment and tourism culture in downstate New York for more than a century. Achieving a full casino license will ensure this site will continue to be a cultural and economic force for generations to come,” said Bill Hornbuckle, president and CEO of MGM Resorts.
MGM thinks it could complete the $2.3 billion investment by mid-2029.
Last Comment ( 1 )
Sounds like the only thing that could sink this proposal right now is if they announced that Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert was headlining in the showroom. And for what it's worth, they should probably ix-nay all the promotion of solar arrays and EV charging stations. Better to say that all of the power they'll be using will be generated at an on-site coal-burning facility, and they'll multiple fossil-fuel dispensing pumps in all parking areas. Or they could just pay the extortion money. All hail the Orange God for all of the prosperity he has delivered to the 1%!!