NEW YORK—With recent talk about opening casinos in New York City, one would think casino gambling is legal in the state of New York. It is not.
Legalizing casino gambling will not even be on the state Legislature calendar until early 2013. If that hurdle is cleared, it will head to the polls for the citizens of New York to vote on in November 2013. If approved, a construction project of that magnitude would take months of planning before breaking ground on what could be a multiyear project.
Despite a stack of what-ifs, planning for casinos in New York City continues to be a hot topic. In a city where real estate is a precious commodity, finding a spot is almost as important as the plan itself.
After talks to get a casino and convention center into Queens fell through earlier this month, signs are now pointing to the Javits Center location in Manhattan, or Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz believes Coney Island is the best bet for New York City casinos.
“There is no question in my mind that Coney Island is the perfect location because rather than being a stand-alone, a hotel, and casino, it actually fits in with the whole economic development plan because of all of the other attractions Coney Island already represents,” Markowitz said last Wednesday.
Markowitz, a long-time supporter of legalizing casino gaming in the state, said he has had no formal conversations with the mayor’s office, but has informally spoken with people in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.
The borough president said he has not formally polled anyone in the community, but he thinks, “Overwhelmingly, the residents of Coney Island would love it.”
Coney Island – ripe for change
Coney Island has been an area hit hard by high unemployment in recent years. According to data from the New York City Economic Development Center (NYCEDC) the unemployment rate on Coney Island was 14.4 percent in 2010, the last time zip code specific data was released.
Outside of the amusement park, the area lacks commercial development. Vacant lots litter the landscape with much of the area’s infrastructure needing substantial improvements.
In November 2009, NYCEDC and Thor Equities, the principal landowner for Coney Island, reached an agreement to help improve the aging amusement park and begin redeveloping the area. This summer season marked the third year of improvements, including renovations to shops along the boardwalk.
The Brooklyn Beach Shop is one of those new shops. Maya Haddad, who is a partner in the shop, has heard the rumblings of moving a casino into Coney Island and is intrigued.
“I think it is interesting. I am not against it. In the right hands, it can do very well,” Haddad said.
Haddad agreed with Markowitz that a casino would be one way to help curb the high unemployment rate in the area as well as utilize the foot traffic already there.
“We have a lot of tourists here. It is a destination in itself. It would just add an extra activity,” Haddad said. “One thing we are missing here are hotels. That might help bring us to the next level of a tourists’ destinations. But it has to be in the right hands and done in the right way.”
Andrew Rodriguez, Coney’s Cones general manager, an ice-cream parlor on the boardwalk, was not against the idea of a casino. He just hoped that mistakes made in Atlantic City would not be repeated on Coney Island.
“If they are allowed to orient them the way they do in Atlantic City, where the locals don’t benefit at all, then that is not necessarily going to be any good,” Rodriguez said.
“If all the main entrances are oriented toward Surf Avenue, or toward the side streets, it will not help the boardwalk at all. If traffic is made to funnel out toward the boardwalk, toward the areas outside of the immediate casino area, it could be great,” he said.
Atlantic City was in dire need of economic stimulus prior to the arrival of casinos in the 1970s. How much the addition of casinos has helped the New Jersey city has been hotly debated.
Michael Pollock, managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group, believes, at least from an economic standpoint, “no one can realistically claim that Atlantic City would be better off today if casinos were not there.”
Pollock noted that Atlantic City was a pioneer in urban casino development and, consequently, they made mistakes—but ones that the developers of today can learn from.
If creating jobs on Coney Island with a new casino is the goal, Pollock suggested starting now. “Our experience has shown that you have to plan far in advance to make sure that the people who are in the area now have first shot at the jobs. That often requires training in advance,” he said.
It will be years before the sights and sounds of a casino grace the boardwalk of Coney Island or any other part of New York City. Pollock said all the talk isn’t a bad thing. “It is a difficult process and we strongly suggest anyone looking at it has to take the broadest possible perspective. The decisions made in the short-term have enormous long-term implications,” he said.
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