With Wynn Out, Spano Says NY Should Approve MGM, Genting Casinos

• Comments made a day after Wynn scrapped New York casino bid
• Spano says Empire City, Resorts World New York are “shovel ready”
• Says regulators can award third license in the future

With Wynn Resorts joining a growing list of departees from the New York City casino competition, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano is calling on state regulators to award licenses to slots-only venues in his city and in Queens, and dole out the third downstate permit at a later date.

The venues to which Spano is referring are MGM Resorts International’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers and Genting’s Resorts World New York in Queens. Both are widely believed to be “grandfathered” into two of three downstate licenses state regulators have yet to award, but there’s been no official confirmation on that matter.

New York should move ahead right away with the two proposals that enjoy community support and are shovel ready to go,” said Spano in a statement provided to The Yonkers Times. “We’ve already lost too much time. Let’s not lose any more.”

He made those remarks a day after Wynn announced it was dropping plans to pursue a casino license on Manhattan’s West Side, citing “persistent opposition.” Wynn joined Las Vegas Sands and Saks Fifth Avenue as the recent departees from the New York City casino race.

Empire City, RWNY Have Been Moneymakers for New York

One of the reasons why it’s widely speculated that Empire City and Resorts World New York are all but assured of procuring two of the three downstate permits is because the pair represent two of the highest-grossing regional casinos in the US.

“We have two racinos whose owners are ready to pay the State a billion dollars in application fees today, and to start generating hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes tomorrow,” added Spano in the statement.

Last year, Genting said it would allocate $5 billion to Resorts World New York to enhance the property and convert it to a traditional casino should it win one of the permits, and that’s exclusive of a $1 billion tax pledge the Malaysian company made to the state, assuming it lands one of those licenses.

In what could be an effort to capitalize on Wynn exiting the competition, Genting announced it will partner with a real estate developer to build 50K affordable housing units across the five boroughs, adding to the list of casino bidders that are pledging cost-efficient residences.

Spano Could Be Onto Something

Spano has skin in the game because Yonkers would benefit should Empire City be allowed to transition to a Las Vegas-style casino, but he’s arguably making a fair point when pushing regulators to award Genting and MGM two of the licenses now.

Bids will be submitted for the licenses next month with the expectation that regulators will announce the winners before the end of this year.