When One Door Closes Another Opens
One of the biggest stories in 2024 is the chase for the three highly coveted New York casino licenses. Here's the latest on the 11 proposals.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: The latest developments on New York casinos: LVS out, Hard rock in?
QUICK HITTER: Bally Bet’s return to the New York online sports betting market.
NEWS: Florida Supreme Court denies motion to stop Florida mobile sports betting. West Flagler asks for a SCOTUS extension. Is Hard Rock Bet here to stay?
BEYOND the HEADLINE: Hard Rock Bet’s Florida monopoly could pay off handsomely.
NEWS: Did legal sports betting spread too quickly? That was one of the topics broached during the PrimeTime Sports Conference.
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: Slow progress is still progress.
STRAY THOUGHTS: 10 years of online gambling in New Jersey.
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New York Casino Update: LVS Loses in Court, Mets Owner Unveils Plans
New York is offering up three downstate casino licenses (New York City). That has brought out the heaviest of the industry’s heavy hitters and multi-billion-dollar proposals rarely seen outside Macau and Singapore.
LVS and the Nassau Coliseum
Las Vegas Sands was dealt a brutal blow in its quest to secure one of the coveted New York casino licenses.
Supreme Court Judge Sarika Kapoor invalidated the 99-year lease agreement LVS signed with Nassau County, derailing the company’s proposed $4 billion casino project at the Nassau Coliseum.
Hofstra University, located next door to the proposed project, brought the case to the courts.
“The court recognized the public’s right to participate in decision-making about the current redevelopment plan for the Nassau Hub,” Hofstra president Susan Poser said. We look forward to contributing to the planning process and advocating for the use of the Hub in ways that will best contribute to our thriving community while protecting against environmental and other harms.”
In the decision, Judge Kapoor wrote:
“The respondents violated both the Open Meetings Law and SEQRA in approving the lease transfer… The matter must be remitted to the Planning Commission and the Nassau County Legislature to conduct a new public hearing in accordance with all relevant statutes…”
The Nassau County Planning Commission et al. are scheduled to appear in court to appeal the decision today.
Hard Rock and Steve Cohen
The LVS decision comes in the wake of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen making his own casino pitch (official).
As reported in Fortune.com:
“New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is partnering with Hard Rock International on a proposal to build an $8 billion casino and entertainment complex on a 50-acre parking lot in Queens next to the Citi Field baseball stadium.
Cohen has hired a small army of lobbyists and spent millions selling the project to local residents. But, like LVS, there are some hurdles to overcome. “The proposed casino site sits on what is technically state-owned parkland, and the legislature would need to pass a bill [filed last year] allowing annexation of the land,” Fortune reports.
Other NYC casino proposals include:
Manhattan Project 1: Wynn Resorts + Related Companies (Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross)
Manhattan Project 2: Caesars Entertainment + SL Green Realty Corp.
Manhattan Project 3: Hudson’s Bay Company (Saks Fifth Avenue)
Manhattan Project 4: Mohegan + Soloviev Group
Manhattan Project 5: Vatche Manoukian (Parx Casino) + Larry Silverstein
Queens: Genting Group + Resorts World Casino
Coney Island: Saratoga Casino Holdings and the Chickasaw Nation + Joseph Sitt (Thor Equities Group)
The Bronx (Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point): Bally’s Corporation
Yonkers: MGM Resort + Empire City Casino
Quick Hitter: Bally Bet Is Back in NY
After a five-month hiatus, Bally Bet has relaunched in New York with its new and improved app powered by Kambi. As noted above, Bally’s is in the running for one of the NY casino licenses, which, if secured (a big if), could boost the profile of its sports betting app.
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Court Denies Motion to Pause Florida Mobile Betting
Florida sports betting isn’t officially official, but with the Florida Supreme Court refusing West Flagler’s request to suspend the Seminole Tribe’s online sports betting platform until the case is decided, it feels pretty official.
The cases are still active in both federal and state courts. Still, West Flagler’s chances are growing smaller and smaller now that the SCOTUS and the Florida Supreme Court have declined to step in and stop the Seminoles from operating the Hard Rock Bet mobile app.
On Monday, West Flagler requested an extension (until February 9) to file its writ certiorari with the US Supreme Court. According to the request, West Flagler wants to see what happens at the Florida Supreme Court, noting the state court’s decision might influence West Flagler’s SCOTUS arguments.
Beyond the Headline: FL Sports Betting Market Potential
Hard Rock Bet could be one of the more intriguing stories in 2024. the Seminoles have a monopoly on what is perhaps the largest legal sports betting market in the US (New York may have something to say about that), and the sportsbook is already taking massive bets from Florida bettors, which points to a very high-end market. Thus far, there has been a $6 million winning parlay and a string of six- and seven-figure wagers through the app.
According to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, Florida is roughly 5% of the entire US market, meaning Hard Rock Bet would be among the national sports betting market share leaders even if it were live in just the Sunshine State.
Sports betting monopolies are much-maligned where they exist, but Hard Rock Bet is probably of the Mel Brooks mindset, “It’s good to be the king.”
Sports Betting Legalization Is Too Fast
“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” ~ Yoda
Fear is bubbling to the surface in the US and Canada. Fear that sports betting legalization is happening at an unbridled pace.
“The access to betting, the amount of betting is frightening. It’s almost become automatic with young kids,” former NHL exec Brian Burke said at the PrimeTime Sports Conference. “You’re taking something that’s been here for hundreds of years. . . making bookmaking legal. It’s safer, I agree. It still scares the shit out of me.”
These same concerns are growing louder in the US, and that’s when legislators start reexamining laws and regulators start cracking down.
Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
A good point about progress (in this case, legal online poker) by GLI’s Joe Buenevith:
I’ve posted this quote before, but it really fits here:
“Some quit due to slow progress. Never grasping the fact that slow progress is still progress.” Anonymous
And from Dave Portnoy…
Whether he files a lawsuit or not, the Joe Burrow wrist injury raises an interesting question about the long-controversial NFL injury report (the NFL is investigating the Burrow situation). Teams have often been investigated and fined for not following the league’s injury reporting policy.
Stray Thoughts
Today is the 10th Anniversary of New Jersey’s online casino and online poker soft launch. In some respects, it’s unbelievable how quickly time goes by, but at the same time, November 21, 2013, seems like a lifetime ago.
The amount of knowledge acquired over those ten years is astounding. As Anna Sainsbury, CEO and co-founder of GeoComply, noted in a mini-documentary GeoComply produced for the anniversary, nobody even really knew what geolocation meant. Now, it’s taken for granted that it works.
I’m always struck by how quickly you can become a bona fide expert in something. I knew very little about gambling regulations in 2011. By the time New Jersey launched in 2013, I had a firm grasp of it. When Pennsylvania and Michigan began considering online gambling in 2015/2016, I was something of an expert.
John Danaher believes you can become an expert in just about any skill activity in five years. “Five years, you can accomplish an awful lot.”