Sands in Talks With Another Company on Long Island Casino Plan

Posted on: April 25, 2025, 04:58h. 

Last updated on: April 25, 2025, 04:58h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.
  • Company pulled plug on New York casino ambitions earlier this week
  • Third party currently unidentified, but announcement could be imminent

Las Vegas Sands could soon make an announcement on an unidentified company possibly taking over its Nassau County, NY casino bid.

Hofstra University Nassau Coliseum Sands casino
The Nassau Coliseum. Las Vegas Sands is reportedly in talks with another company about taking over its Long Island casino bid. (Image: Newsday)

When it delivered first-quarter results Wednesday, Sands surprised the industry and investors with news that it’s abandoning plans to bid for one of the three New York City-area casino licenses. At that time, COO and President Patrick Dumont told analysts the operator is “in the process of attempting to secure an agreement with a third party to whom we can transact the opportunity to bid for a casino license on the Nassau Coliseum site.”

Citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the matter, Newsday reported that Sands is in talks with an unnamed company about taking over the bid and that an announcement could be made in a matter of weeks.

Sands is likely motivated to get a deal done because it holds the lease on Nassau Coliseum and under the terms of that agreement, it’s contractually obligated to develop the property. The operator, which has already made $54 million in payments to the county, previously hinted the project isn’t economically desirable without the gaming component.

Speculation Abounds Regarding Sands Replacement

Sands hasn’t mentioned specific operators with which it’s discussing the Nassau County opportunity, but on the conference call, Dumont made clear the group would “would include those that may be able to address both land-based and digital markets in New York.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told local media outlets that he recently fielded calls from interested parties from outside the US, including Albania and China, but he didn’t get into specifics. Community groups that oppose the Long Island casino plan said their views won’t change with Sands out of the picture.

While we are concerned the door remains open for the county to find a new casino partner, it was always a bad idea, and it will continue to be a bad idea, whether the county works with Las Vegas Sands or another predatory gambling company looking to extract wealth from our community,” according to the Say No to the Casino Civic Association. “If a third party wishes to enter the process, our unrelenting opposition will fight until the end.”

In what it described as joyous fashion, the civic group issued a statement Wednesday commenting on Sands’ decision to drop its New York plans.

Slim Pickings Among Other Operators

Should Nassau County officials remain committed to the idea of a gaming venue and if Sands is solely focused on finding a company from that industry to take over its Long Island obligations, pickings are likely to be slim.

Including the Long Island proposal, there are 10 bidders for downstate casino licenses — a group featuring gaming behemoths Caesars Entertainment, Genting, Hard Rock International, MGM Resorts International, and Wynn Resorts. That implies the list of suitable gaming replacements for Sands is short.

However, Sands doesn’t necessarily need a similar company to absorb its now dead Long Island plans. It merely a third party to move forward with development of the Coliseum.