Bally’s Bronx Casino Bid Back in the Game Thanks to Mayor Adams’ Veto

NEW YORK—A little more than two weeks after the New York City Council resoundingly rejected necessary zoning changes for the casino venture, New York City Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the council’s action, giving new life to the Bally’s Bronx casino proposal.

The City Council vote on July 14 by a 28-9 margin was considered to be a devastating blow to the project’s hopes of securing a full gaming license later this year by the New York State Gaming Commission. However, the mayor’s veto puts the $4-billion project to be built at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx back in the running among six other applicants for up to three downstate gaming licenses.

Mayor Adams, while stressing the veto is not an endorsement of the Bally’s Bronx project, stated, “A casino in New York City would bring good-paying union jobs and an economic boost to the surrounding community, which is why I have long advocated for a fair process with as many competitive bids as possible. In stark contrast, the City Council’s disapproval of the Bally’s Bronx bid deprives the Bronx of the ability to even compete for a $4-billion private investment that would deliver 15,000 union construction jobs, 4,000 permanent union jobs, and more than $625 million in community benefits — including millions in funding for schools, parks, youth programs, nonprofits, and public safety — if selected by the state.”

Mayor Adams said that the Chairman of the Council’s Land Use Committee Raphael Salamanca, Jr. and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Zoning Kevin Riley, both representatives of districts in the Bronx, urged the mayor to veto the council’s land use action.

“The City Council’s decision to treat the Bronx differently than other boroughs goes against the publicly stated, in-favor positions of the Bronx borough president and other councilmembers representing working-class neighborhoods across the Bronx, the mayor said in a prepared statement. “By rejecting the land use application for this casino bid while approving three others in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, the City Council is putting its finger on the scale — and this is precisely the type of action that leads New Yorkers to lose faith in their elected leaders.”

The Bronx Times reports that East Bronx Republican City Council Member Kristy Marmorato, who led the campaign to disapprove the Bally’s Bronx zone changes, is looking to rally Council colleagues to override the mayor’s veto. A two-thirds majority is required to override a veto.

“I stand firmly with my constituents, and no one—not even other Bronx representatives—will come into our district and force something on us that we do not want,” she said. “We refuse to be a dumping ground for a project that, by the mayor’s own words, would bring an ‘economic boost to the surrounding community’ but not to the very neighborhoods it would disrupt.”