It’s no secret that New York City has been slammed quite hard by the pandemic, Restaurants, office buildings, and even the Theater District have had to close their doors because not enough people are coming out.
Fortunately, things are slowly getting back to normal with the blessing of vaccinations and more and more businesses and events are becoming available again for the public—follow City Guide’s upcoming events here.
Nevertheless, with residents moving to the suburbs and business owners struggling to cover their rents, the city is facing a huge deficit—a total of $15 billion.
Despite the light at the end of the tunnel, New York is actively looking into other revenue streams. This is where new opportunities come in. Shunned in the past, casinos are now being considered as something that can save the city from this dire circumstance. In addition to the online market which has a fierce competition for the best USA high roller casino title, investors are looking into opening a land-based facility to cater to the largely untapped “traditional” market in New York and it appears that the government is seriously considering it.
The Re-opening of Casinos
Casinos used to be big moneymakers for many cities. However, due to the lockdown, revenues suffered. It still brought big money in, but not as much as expected. Based on the projections of the American Gaming Association, the gross revenue brought in for the second quarter of 2020 still reached a total of $2.3 billion.
Due to the mass vaccination efforts, casinos are now allowed to accept more patrons. With this development, the numbers are expected go back up and reach its projected pre-pandemic rate.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and other lawmakers in the city are recognizing the money making powers of blackjack tables and slot machines. Formerly averse to the idea of gambling, they have signed into legislation the construction of four big casinos in upstate New York. They are also now authorized to grant three more casinos their licenses to operate by 2023. Faced with a huge budget deficit, the governor is also showing a more positive attitude towards legal mobile sports betting since it has the potentials to bring an additional half a billion dollars in yearly revenues.
Is a Huge Casino in the Offing?
With things looking dire money-wise for the state, Governor Cuomo is entertaining the idea of the construction of the high roller casinos in the city of New York.
Vornado Realty trust is pitching its idea of a massive casino on their holdings situated near Herald Square. Even the owner of one of Atlantic City’s more popular casino, Resorts Casino Hotel, is floating the idea of building a casino in Herald Square itself.
L&L Holding Company, who is currently constructing a tower at the intersection of Broadway and 47th Street is also proposing to create a casino as the centerpiece of their massive project. This proposal is to address the growing concern that there will be less interest in leasing office buildings especially now that people have gotten used to working from their homes. In fact, in 2020, the commercial real estate market suffered a great blow when they experienced the lowest rate of commercial leases in two decades.
So, is a casino in New York a possibility in the near future? All signs point to yes.
Online Casinos Remain Popular
While the possibility of an actual brick and mortar casino may be a few years away, online casinos are already here. The development of technology and the ease in procuring smartphones lead to the growing number of people who are gambling online. According to the AGA, revenues from online poker, blackjack, and slot games reached a record-breaking $402 million in the second quarter of 2020. This is triple the revenue they generated the previous year. This is phenomenal considering the online casino games are only legally allowed to operate in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Delaware, Wes Virginia, and New Jersey.
Will New York legalize online gambling in the near future? Just like the possibility of the construction of a land based casino in the area, lawmakers may be more amenable to legalizing this in order to bring in more money for the city.
Whether it be a land-based casino or a virtual game of blackjack, residents of New York City will soon have more options when it comes to gambling.
