Will NYC Mayor Eric Adams Again Save Bally’s Bronx Casino Plan?
Posted on: July 23, 2025, 09:32h.
Last updated on: July 23, 2025, 10:23h.
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams is mulling a veto to allow the Bally’s Bronx casino bid to continue
- The City Council all but killed the Bally’s application with a land-use vote against the project
- The Trump Organization would benefit from Bally’s securing one of the downstate NY licenses
Last week, at the motion of New York City Councilor Kristy Marmorato, the New York City Council voted overwhelmingly against a land-use application from Bally’s Corp. to possibly allow the Rhode Island-based gaming operator to construct a casino on city-owned land in the Bronx.
Bally’s is seeking one of the three available gaming concessions for the downstate New York region. The City Council’s 29-9 vote against allowing a portion of a 222-acre property to be rezoned for a commercial enterprise all but killed Bally’s hopes of securing one of the coveted licenses that carry slot, live-dealer table game, and sports betting privileges.
Mayor Eric Adams, however, possesses the power to veto the council’s vote and allow the Bally’s Bronx scheme to continue.
In June, Adams assisted in the Bally’s plan moving forward by endorsing city legislation regarding a motion to declassify a part of the Throggs Neck parkland where the company manages the Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point. With Adams’ blessing, the bill needed only 26 council votes instead of 34.
Adams’ Future
With online political wagering markets giving Adams just a 10% chance of winning reelection as an independent — Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is the betting front-runner at implied odds of 71% and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is his closed challenger at implied odds of 15% — some believe Adams is trying to appease President Donald Trump in hopes of entering the federal government. If the Bally’s Bronx plan is licensed, The Trump Organization stands to receive $115 million.
Trump sold the Ferry Point Golf Links lease to Bally’s in 2023 for a reported $60 million. The transaction came with the stipulation that if Bally’s is to operate a casino on the property in the future, Trump would be owed $115 million.
[The mayor] supports a fair process with as many competitive casino bids in New York City as possible,” Adams’ Deputy Press Secretary Zachary Nosanchuk told Crain’s New York Business in response to whether the mayor might veto the city council’s land-use vote on the Bally’s appeal.
“The City Council’s disapproval of this Bronx bid pits boroughs against one another and leaves the Bronx unable to even have a shot at benefiting from the potential of new jobs and new investment in their community,” Nosanchuk continued. “By rejecting the land use application for one casino bid while approving two others, the City Council is putting its finger on the scale before the state ever has a chance to consider applications. We are reviewing our options in response to this vote.”
Trump Opposition
While some in the NYC political arena believe Adams might be jockeying for a role within the Trump administration, others say the City Council is being biased against the Bally’s scheme because it could possibly benefit the Republican president. Of the 51 NYC Council seats, Democrats hold all but six.
Bally’s Corp. Chair Soo Kim said as much in May.
[The City Council] is saying, ‘If Bally’s wins, Trump benefits.’ That’s crazy. If we don’t get a vote in the City Council, we can’t advance our bid,” Kim said.
Bally’s Bronx is a proposed $4 billion development that Bally’s officials say would create 15K union construction jobs and 4,000 permanent union resort jobs with annual yearly full-time wages of $96,200. The casino, Bally’s projects, would generate a $1.9 billion economic impact and $357 million in annual tax revenue.
Last Comments ( 3 )
I was told the council has to officially file the vote...then it is delivered to Adams...then he has 5 days to decide...this should happen before late August when the ULURP is complete and by Sept.? the Committee assigned to this will complete?
The mayor has five days to make the veto decision once the Council has officially filed its land use decision with the administration, which has yet to happen.
Well did Adams Veto this project?