New York City and Brooklyn Bridge at Night

New York City could soon take on Las Vegas as the gambling mecca of America with licenses for three casinos in the Big Apple currently up for grabs.

From Times Square and Fifth Avenue to Queens and Brooklyn, New York attracts millions of visitors every year and could soon become a betting hotspot as the state is currently moving ahead with plans to award the downstate area with three casino licenses.

In 2013, seven commercial casinos were authorized after the New York Constitution was amended, with officials citing four casino resort destinations upstate. A decade later, the New York Gaming Commission is interested in building an integrated resort featuring non-gaming amenities and, together with the three-member Gaming Facility Location Board, is covering the competitive process for the remaining three licenses.

The New York State Gaming Commission was created in 2012 and formed as the New York State Racing and Wagering Board merged with the New York State Division of Lottery and regulates all aspects of gaming activity in the state. Now, it has been reported the biggest gaming companies have started to position themselves with partners in a bid to apply for licensing to ensure they are part of the action if New York becomes its own casino hub.

Licensing Fees and Tax Revenue

The request for applications to develop and operate a gaming facility in New York state revealed that each applicant must submit a $1 million fee in order to apply while the board will require a further $500 million of investment in the resort. The selected gaming companies will hold their licenses for a maximum of 30 years and a minimum of a decade. On top of the $500 million license, annual fees will also have to be paid, as well as $750 for every slot machine or table game installed on the premises.

Many of the proposals made by developers include amenities far beyond the casinos including entertainment venues, hotels, leisure facilities and even residential plans. One proposal would see the Aqueduct Raceway on the Queens border with Long Island and Yonkers Raceway converted from racinos into full gaming operations. As it stands, the Community Advisory Committee is currently making evaluations of the proposals submitted.

According to a recent study by Spectrum Gaming, it has been estimated a resort in Manhattan could earn well over $2 billion in gaming revenue with a further $1.2 billion raised in taxes alongside 3,000 construction jobs and 21,500 permanent roles around the casino and other facilities built as part of the main proposal.

New York: The Sports Betting Capital of America

While casinos will be a huge boost for casino gamers in New York, the state has already become the country’s largest sports betting market. 

Bettors in New York wagered a total of $16.7 billion through mobile apps alone during the first year of the market in the state, according to the New York State Gaming Commission while physical sportsbooks made $1.4 billion of that main total. Currently, these online casinos in New York are not live yet, but can definetely add to the revenue figures once online gambling is approved.

In the first month alone, residents placed $1.6 billion on mobile betting apps since its launch on January 9, 2022, seeing New York fly past Nevada and New Jersey as America’s sports betting capital. Sports betting in-person at four casinos in upstate New York added another $15 million to the total.

FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars are the three leading sportsbooks in the state with FanDuel leading the way with around 40% of the market share in New York online sports betting, reporting $142.5million in mobile bets during one week in April.

It seems that residents in the Empire State really enjoy placing wagers, giving New York the potential to be one of the major players in America when the casino licenses come into effect.