Casinos in NYC -- The Next Chapter

Back in early 2021, as that year's mayoral race was heating up, the issue of casinos in NYC became a topic. I blogged about it then and shared my lofty thoughts -- I can understand the economic appeal of casinos but worry about the impact they might have on the city.

Since then, three non-tribal casino licenses have been approved for downstate New York and currently community boards around the city are voting on approving  several proposals for those licenses.

So far, all of the proposals for casinos in Manhattan -- including one in Times Square, one proposed by Jay-Z, and one around the United Nations -- have been rejected. But it looks like a proposal by Steve Cohen in Willets Point, near Citi Field, will be approved as well as turning the Racino way out in Queens into a full-blown casino.

My 2021 view of casinos remains the same. I find the idea of casinos in Manhattan, well, gross. Manhattan is special, the epicenter of American culture, and inserting casinos into the middle of it would cheapen it. And there are obviously other parts of the city that might benefit from there.

Most of all, I think casinos should not be really easy to get to -- they should be somewhat remote and take time to get to. It's inevitable that they'll be in NYC soon -- just hopefully not too close to where anyone lives.