Steve Cohen’s New York City casino licensing bid has potentially received new life.
The billionaire New York Mets owner and hedge fund mogul reportedly picked up much-needed support from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who plans to introduce legislation in the next state budget that would strengthen Cohen’s Queens project, according to the New York Post.
“The Governor is going to try to get all the land use issues for the casino license bids rolled into the budget,” The Post’s source said. “She is trying to stuff it in there.”
Cohen, as it turns out, has long supported Hochul and the Democratic Party in New York. He donated more than $136,000 to Hochul’s 2021 campaign.
The governor trying to expand parkland permit uses for gambling complexes, which a Hochul spokesperson declined to confirm to The Post, could get Cohen's project back on track.
His $8 billion Metropolitan Park casino-entertainment project appeared all but dead after State Senator Jessica Ramos denied the request to introduce legislation that would turn a city-owned parking lot in the Corona neighborhood into casino complex land earlier this year.
No local support
The lot at Mets’ Citi Field has been deemed a parkland and can only be altered by lawmakers.
“Whether people rallied for or against Metropolitan Park, I heard the same dreams for Corona,” Ramos said in May. “We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space, and recreation for the whole family. We disagree on the premise that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off. I resent the conditions and the generations of neglect that have made many of us so desperate that we would be willing to settle.”
Ramos told The Post this week that the governor intervening with legislation would be “unfortunate” and would break “an important precedent."
A Cohen spokesperson told The Post that one person shouldn’t be able to stop or approve a project.
“We have plenty of time and other avenues to get this done and feel confident given the overwhelming support from elected officials, unions, and the local community, that we have the best overall project,” the spokesperson said. “We are all in.”
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow (D-Mount Vernon), chairman of the Assembly’s Racing and Wagering Committee, told The Post he wouldn’t oppose governor legislation and wants to move forward with the Metropolitan Complex process.
Other benefactors
Cohen and partners Hard Rock are one of three investor groups hoping to land a coveted gaming license to bring a U.S. casino to New York City. The group wants to feature a hotel, music venue, restaurants, bars, a new park space, athletic fields, and parking garages in the Metropolitan Complex casino site.
Two licenses are expected to be awarded to racinos at Empire City in Yonkers and Aqueduct in Queens, although the latter reportedly faces issues in New York since the Genting-owned Resorts World is caught up in the gambling scandal involving an illegal bookmaker and Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter.
Bally’s and Wynn Resorts, two others battling for that casino licensing bid, have also faced neighborhood opposition to their plans and could benefit from Hochul’s potential legislation as well.
