By GREGORY ZELLER //
Las Vegas Sands will not be developing a glitzy casino resort on Long Island – but the Island is not out of the brick-and-mortar casino business just yet.
After two years of promoting its $5 billion-ish plan to transform the 72-acre site around Uniondale’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a topnotch gambling destination – complete with a glittering casino, world-class hotel and massive entertainment venue, promising tons of ancillary economic activity and piles of tax revenues – the Nevada-based resort owner announced Wednesday that it’s no longer pursuing a state gaming license, key to building a resort casino at the site.
While Las Vegas Sands “strongly believe(s) in the development opportunity for a land-based downstate casino license in New York” – and “continue(s) to believe that the Nassau Coliseum site is the best location for that development opportunity” – the company is concerned about “the impact of the potential legalization of iGaming on the overall market opportunity and project returns,” according to a statement.
The New York State Senate is currently considering legislation that would legalize online casino-type gambling, including poker, in the Empire State. This third attempt to legalize online gambling in New York – which already allows limited online sports betting – increases proposed tax rates, strengthens government oversight to curb unregulated gambling, restricts participation to players physically inside state borders and otherwise addresses shortfalls in previous legalization legislation.
Bruce Blakeman: Sorry to see you go.
Before being spooked by this newer, better online-gambling legislation, Las Vegas Sands – which recently reported a 30 percent year-over-over decline in first-quarter net income – had pulled out all the stops to put the proposed Long Island destination attraction in motion and prove itself to New York legislators and Nassau County neighbors.
Over the last three years, the hotelier launched numerous hotel-development, community-enrichment and workforce-training efforts, including the creation of an employee-development program with nearby Nassau Community College, the formation of numerous memorandums of understanding with a four-star selection of regional and national restaurant groups and a $200,000 donation to new Gambling Support and Wellness Centers opened by the Garden City-based Family & Children’s Association.
It even flew in international soccer sensations Carli Lloyd and David Beckham in March 2023 for a Sands Youth Empowerment Initiative at Uniondale’s Mitchell Field sports complex.
The efforts appeared to be winning some hearts and minds. In 2023, the Nassau County Legislature voted 19-1 to grant the resort owner a 99-year lease in Uniondale, with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman beaming that the “overwhelming bipartisan approval of lease terms … affirms that Nassau County has made the right decision.”
However, the top global developer/operator of integrated resorts – essentially, casinos incorporating hotels, theme parks and other non-gambling attractions – still faced significant challenges to its Long Island plans.
Not only is the competition for the three Downstate New York gambling licenses fierce – as many as 10 high rollers are said to be bidding for the permits – but local resistance to Las Vegas Sands’ proposal has risen in various forms, with critics pushing back against the plan’s potential traffic and environmental impacts.
Place your bets: Sands may have pulled out, but the smart money is on another casino operator moving into Uniondale.
On Thursday, Say No To The Casino – one of the more organized resistance cells – posted a front-page website message thanking its supporters and “all of you who said no.”
With Las Vegas Sands out of the running for one of the coveted gaming licenses, the future of the Uniondale site is in flux. However, the dream of a high-end brick-and-mortar casino replacing the Nassau Coliseum is not necessarily dead.
The Nevada-based developer still has its 99-year lease agreement in hand and, to promote “maximum optionality” for site development, “will be continuing work to secure all entitlements necessary to both allow a third party to bid for a casino license as well as effect an alternative development program.”
“If the company is unable to secure an agreement that would allow for a third party to bid for a casino license on the Nassau Coliseum site, it will work with Nassau County and other parties to attempt to ensure it is developed consistent with Nassau County’s long-term vision for the site,” Las Vegas Sands added.
And Nassau County’s long-term vision, according to Chris Boyle, Blakeman’s communications director, still leans toward development of a world-class gaming destination.
“The county executive is grateful that Las Vegas Sands is committed to the development of the Coliseum site with or without a casino,” Boyle said Wednesday. “However, there is strong interest from gaming organizations which have been in confidential discussions with Nassau County in taking the place of Las Vegas Sands in the licensing application process.
“Nassau County will crystallize within the next 30 days whether or not to entertain a casino component or develop the site without,” the communications director added. “In either event, there will be an exciting new development that will create jobs and positive economic activity.”
