The battle for the three casino licenses in Lower New York is undoubtedly the main event of the industry in 2025. The latest lobbying report shows that Bally's Bronx, Resorts World NYC, and Hard Rock Metropolitan Park topped the New York City lobbying expenditure list for the second consecutive year. In plain terms, it's a victory bought with money. Want to know about the most lavish license battle in the US gambling industry? PASA official website continues to track key dynamics.
2025 Lobbying Bill: Three winners spent between 830,000 and 1.68 million
According to the annual report of the New York City Clerk's Office of Lobbying, all three license winners last year made it into the top ten citywide in lobbying expenditures. Queens Future Company (Metropolitan Park) spent 1.68 million dollars, the highest among the bidders, ranking second citywide. Resorts World NYC spent 1.14 million dollars, ranking fourth citywide. Bally's Corp spent 830,661 dollars, ranking sixth citywide. Another bidder, The Coney, although rejected by the community advisory committee, still spent 1.4 million dollars, ranking third citywide. Queens Future and Bally's each hired 12 lobbying firms, tying for the most in the city, while Resorts World used 3, and The Coney used 4.
Years of burning money: The results were foreshadowed
Ironically, the three winners of 2025 were also the top three in lobbying expenditures in 2024, which perhaps had already hinted at the outcome. That year, Metropolitan Park paid 1.35 million dollars, topping the city's list; Resorts World followed closely with 990,000 dollars; Bally's spent 914,161 dollars, ranking third. The lobbying blitz of Metropolitan Park can be traced back to 2023, with its related entities also among the top ten spenders that year, totaling over 1.5 million dollars. Among the three winners, Metropolitan Park's investment of 8 billion dollars far exceeds Bally's (4 billion) and Resorts World (5.5 billion), but financially it might be the most stable due to its associated party, Metropolitan boss Steve Cohen (net worth 23 billion dollars).
Political maneuvering: Bypassing resistance, leveraging the mayor
The New York casino market is expected to generate 7 billion dollars in gambling taxes and 5.9 billion dollars in other taxes from 2027 to 2036, sparking fierce political competition. Metropolitan Park was once hindered by state senator opposition but later resolved the crisis by changing supporters, with a total lobbying expenditure of 4.6 million dollars over three years. Bally's Bronx was twice aided by former Mayor Eric Adams, surviving amidst council resistance. For Bally's, in addition to a 500 million dollar license fee and 500 million dollar capital investment, if selected, it would also need to pay an additional 115 million dollars to the Trump Organization (land purchase clause), plus financial pressures from projects in Chicago, Las Vegas, and the acquisition of Australia's Star Billion.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leader," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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