New York’s mass-transit system is banking on billions of {dollars} from the state’s guess to carry full-scale casinos to the town.
With three gaming-palace proposals nonetheless on the desk — two in Queens and one in The Bronx — the MTA is relying on near $2 billion via 2029 simply from casino-licensing charges earmarked for the transportation authority’s annual working price range. Billions extra might come from tax income, relying on how licenses are awarded.
“More service, better service, no layoffs,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief govt, stated Oct. 10 in response to a query from THE CITY in regards to the potential affect of casinos on the transit system. “That’s what we accomplished thanks to Gov. Hochul and that’s what we’re going to use that casino-licensing money for when it lands.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers locked within the anticipated funding infusion for the MTA in February 2023 as a part of the subsequent 12 months’s state price range, whereas additionally guaranteeing a further chunk for transit operations from recurring on line casino sales-tax revenues. That got here on the heels of legislators lifting a ban on Las Vegas-style casinos within the metropolis, Westchester County and on Lengthy Island.
However with the eight unique downstate on line casino candidates now whittled down to 3 finalists, the prospect of on line casino cash flowing into operations for the MTA is rounding into form, with the gaming firms doubtlessly making further investments to stations or service.
A report this month from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, in addition to the MTA’s July monetary plan, be aware that future working budgets hinge on the timing of the on line casino announcement. A closing choice by the New York State Gaming Fee is anticipated by the tip of the 12 months.
The MTA monetary plan depends on $500 million from casinos in 2026 and in 2027, $600 million in 2028 and $200 million in 2029.
The finalists embrace a bid to construct a on line casino subsequent to Bally’s Golf Hyperlinks at Ferry Level, the Bronx golf course previously operated by the Trump Group. Then there are dueling Queens proposals from Mets proprietor Steve Cohen and Onerous Rock Worldwide for a location close to Citi Area and one other from Genting Group to increase Resorts World New York Metropolis subsequent to Aqueduct Racetrack.
A fourth finalist, MGM Resorts Worldwide, final week abruptly pulled its bid to considerably increase operations on the Yonkers Raceway, the place it operates the Empire Metropolis On line casino, a so-called racino with 4,700 slot machines and digital desk video games. The corporate pinned the choice to withdraw on shifts to the “competitive and economic assumptions underpinning our application,” which altered the corporate’s anticipated return on its proposed funding.
‘Hidden Benefits’ for Transit
Every firm, as required by the Gaming Fee, has pledged to spend at the very least $500 million on neighborhood advantages to areas neighboring the on line casino developments. On the request of neighborhood advisory committees, the bidders have dedicated to enhancements for close by housing, roads and public parks.
There are additionally guarantees tied to the transportation community, together with subway and bus service, ferry routes and roads.
Lisa Daglian, govt director of the Everlasting Residents Advisory Committee to the MTA, welcomes such potential perks.
“There are hidden benefits that we could anticipate as well, such as improvements to the accessibility at some of the stations, such as perhaps additional service that some of the operators may want to see,” she stated.
Rising subway accessibility for individuals with disabilities has already been floated by one of many on line casino bidders as a attainable acquire.
Subsequent to Citi Area, the place the proposal pitches a on line casino in what’s now a stadium car parking zone, greater than $1 billion is pegged to neighborhood upgrades throughout the 50-acre Metropolitan Park growth. Amongst them could be an overhaul of the No. 7 line’s Mets-Willets Level station, which lacks elevators and is just partially accessible below the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Act. A ramp from the station connects with Roosevelt Avenue.
A pedestrian overpass on the Mets-Willets Level station connecting the 7 practice and LIRR with Citi Area and Recent Meadows Corona Park confirmed indicators of decay, Oct. 16, 2025. Credit score: Lauren Hartley/THE CITY
“We’ve been carrying it up because there’s so many stairs,” Jenny Leong stated Thursday as she lugged a stroller up the steps to a practice platform after going swimming on the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Aquatic Middle. “There should be an elevator.”
Different developer-driven enhancements on the subway station — the place ridership topped 1.9 million in 2024 — could be a “seamless connection” to Metropolitan Park developments, together with housing, retail and the New York Metropolis FC soccer stadium that’s below building.
However the Cohen-Onerous Rock bid doesn’t make room for long-overdue accessibility upgrades on the Lengthy Island Rail Highway cease simply throughout the boardwalk from the subway station. The MTA pledged in September 2014 to make the LIRR station close to the USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Middle ADA-compliant by 2016, however these plans have been repeatedly slowed, as THE CITY has beforehand reported.
In paperwork submitted to the Gaming Fee by Onerous Rock at Metropolitan Park, an official wrote that the bid “proposes the most expansive slate of transportation-oriented improvements of any gaming application,” whereas noting that the LIRR station “is not even within our project footprint.”
A rendering exhibits plans for the Metropolitan Park on line casino subsequent to Citi Area. Credit score: By way of Onerous Rock Resort & On line casino
Platform Prospects
Additional south in Queens, the Genting Group has large growth plans for the prevailing Resorts World New York Metropolis, which has greater than 5,800 slot machines and digital desk video games. The corporate final week upped its proposed license payment to $600 million, which might pump a further $100 million into the MTA working price range.
The corporate’s supplemental bid tasks that the on line casino will generate $18.8 billion in its first decade of expanded operations, with half of that cash going to MTA operations.
Among the many transportation potentialities being checked out by the corporate is the potential to construct a platform for southbound service on the A line’s cease at Aqueduct Racetrack — the one station within the system with one-way service. In keeping with bid paperwork, an overpass must be constructed over the tracks on the station, which connects to the on line casino by way of a lined skybridge.
Officers for Resorts World New York Metropolis stated the corporate is “in active conversations with the MTA” about including the second platform on the station and likewise dedicated to changing the skybridge.
Till then, those that take the A practice from Manhattan, Brooklyn or elsewhere in Queens to get to the on line casino or the horse observe need to exit one cease away on the close by Aqueduct-North Conduit Avenue station and catch a Resorts World shuttle bus or stroll. Three MTA bus strains already present service to and from the on line casino.
The Resorts World on line casino subsequent to the Aqueduct Race Observe in Queens, Sept. 25, 2025. Credit score: Alex Krales/THE CITY
“If more people will be coming here, then the casino company and the MTA have to find some other ways where one can help the other,” stated Julio Cesar Portez, 72, who lives close to the Aqueduct Racetrack station.
Beforehand open solely on racing days, Aqueduct Racetrack turned a full-time cease in 2013, following the opening two years earlier of the racino. As a part of a $15 million station makeover, an elevated walkway was constructed to attach the station with the on line casino and Resorts World New York Metropolis agreed to take care of a brand new elevator and entrance.
On the time, the on line casino operator expressed curiosity in shopping for the naming rights to the Aqueduct Racetrack station.
In 2009, the MTA bought the naming rights to the previous Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Road subway advanced, now the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Middle station, as a part of a $4 million, 20-year deal. The hub that connects a number of subway strains with Barclays Middle stays the only real station out of 472 systemwide with a naming-rights deal.
Daglian stated station naming rights might come into play once more at both of the potential Queens casinos.
“It’s not something that Citi wanted to do with Mets-Willets Point, but would Metropolitan Park want to do it? We’ll see,” she stated. “You know, Steve Cohen has a couple competing activities there.”
Bally’s proposal for part of The Bronx that’s not close to the subway system pegs at the very least $75 million in funding for transportation upgrades. These embrace two new MTA bus stops and enhanced entry to the hoped-for on line casino by way of public transportation.
In its utility supplies, Bally’s notes it is going to search “further engagement” with NYC Ferry to discover modifying schedules and rising service to the prevailing Ferry Level Park cease, including that it’ll improve its free shuttle bus service between the ferry and the on line casino.
As well as, the builders have secured conditional approval from the state Division of Transportation for a brand new Lafayette Avenue freeway overpass, together with widened roads. Total, the Bronx on line casino proposal focuses far more on motorists than transit riders, with the builders boasting that the brand new growth would have 16 acres of parking heaps that might maintain 4,660 vehicles, and the way simple the on line casino could be to get to on present highways.
However for a mass transit system that has usually teetered getting ready to monetary pitfall, the on line casino licensing charges and future recurring tax revenues add as much as a wanted increase.
“They are certainly a funding mechanism for the operations,” Daglian stated. “That was baked into bringing them to [New York City].”
Lieber, the pinnacle of the MTA, cited how transit techniques in a number of different main U.S. cities at the moment are “in crisis,” with riders there going through service cuts or double-digit fare hikes. New York, in the meantime, is trying on the tantalizing prospect of massive bucks from casinos.
“That is going to make sure that we can continue what we’re doing, which is running a heck of a lot more service than we used to,” he stated.
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