PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A local panel on Monday rejected the last of three Manhattan proposals vying for one of up to three new state licenses to operate a casino in the lucrative New York City market. The proposal was for a six-acre project near the United Nations headquarters dubbed “Freedom Plaza.” A Jay-Z-backed plan to build a Caesars Palace in Times Square and another proposal for a resort on Manhattan’s West Side were both voted down by two other local boards last week. Officials in New Jersey are celebrating it as a win for Atlantic City.
There is still a pending proposal for a casino at Citi Field in Queens, but State Senator Vince Polistina of Atlantic County said this is great news for the future success of casinos in Atlantic City because the Citi Field location isn’t nearly as threatening to AC.
“It’s an incredible sigh of relief. I mean, we would have survived; some of our properties here — Borgata, Hard Rock, Ocean Resort Casino — are doing incredibly well. But we still have nine of them, and the other six, you know, if you start competing with yourselves, maybe in North Jersey or potentially in Manhattan, there was a significant concern for some of the other properties that are not doing as well as some of the bigger guys,” Polistina explained.
While Atlantic City has made strides to diversify its entertainment options beyond gambling, the casinos remain the lifeblood of the local economy, and Polistina said hopefully this also means an end to the discussions about bringing a casino to North Jersey, at least for now.