While many of the potential bidders have been generous donors to city officials or belong to beloved New York franchises, license proposals from those with significant involvement in Republican causes could potentially see hurdles in winning over key decision-makers in the heavily Democratic city and state. Gambling operators will need to select a partner with New York influence, said Woinski, preferably one with name recognition who will be embraced by the city. “It’s really the one license, the other two are spoken for,” said Alan Woinski, CEO of Gaming USA Corporation, gambling consulting firm. And as pre-established facilities, it won’t take long after being licensed for them to begin operating as casinos.

Barring any unforeseen actions, these locations are most likely to receive two of the three casino licenses, according to Gary Pretlow, a member of the New York State Assembly and co-chair of the Committee on Racing and Gaming. The Malaysian-based casino developer Genting operates the Resorts World facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, while MGM Resorts controls the Empire City racino in Yonkers, located in Westchester county. The New York City area already has two gambling facilities known as racinos, horse racetracks that also operate slot machines and other electronic games.

Operators who win one of the three licenses will be capturing gambling revenue which previously went to casinos located outside the New York area, such as New Jersey’s Atlantic City and Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. A casino in the U.S.’s most populated city will have access to a metropolitan area with 20 million residents, in addition to the tens of millions of tourists visiting New York City annually.

New casino upstate ny