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Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen has won approval to build one of New York City’s first casinos, capping a multiyear campaign to secure a lucrative licence while overcoming long-held opposition to gambling.
Cohen’s Metropolitan Park project was one of three full-fledged casino proposals approved on Monday by the New York State Gaming Commission. Construction on the casino is expected to begin in January and open in 2030, in what is a rundown area dotted with junk yards and car repair shops.
“Since the day I bought the team, the community and Mets fans have made it clear to me that we can and should do better with the area around the ballpark,” Cohen, who runs the $42bn hedge fund Point72 and owns the New York Mets baseball team, said in a statement.
The sprawling $8bn casino complex will be built directly next to Citi Field, the baseball stadium where the Mets play, in a part of the city that is home to two of Queens’ biggest immigrant communities. Local activists are concerned about the potential “devastating” consequences gambling could have on the area, including addiction and taking money out of the local community.
The commission also approved two other casino proposals for New York City: Bally’s Corporation, which plans to build a complex at a Bronx golf course previously owned by President Donald Trump, and Genting Group’s Resorts World, which operates gaming machines and a horseracing track in Queens but will be allowed to begin offering fully fledged gambling.
Each project will have to pay a $500mn licensing fee, in addition to future taxes on revenue. The state has projected the three casinos could generate $5.5bn in revenue by 2033.
The possibility of three new casinos in New York was conceived by state lawmakers as a way to boost tax revenues. The state first published plans to hand out up to three licences for the city and surrounding area in its 2022 budget.
Cohen’s project forecasts it will make $3.2bn in gross revenue in its first year, with $1.5bn coming from slot machines. By year 10, it will have made a cumulative $38bn, according to its estimates.
Cohen won over many politicians by promising to create tens of thousands of jobs. The hedge fund magnate began drawing up plans for the project — which will be developed in conjunction with Hard Rock International and includes a hotel, live events venue and food hall — shortly after he bought the Mets baseball team for $2.4bn in 2020.
The Fed-Up Coalition, a grassroots organisation of local activists, has emerged as the biggest critic of Cohen’s plans. Its members have raised concerns over a billionaire wielding influence over the community, and some have worried about his past run-ins with federal regulators.
In 2013 New York prosecutors brought several charges against Cohen’s previous hedge fund SAC Capital and affiliated firms, alleging insider trading at the fund was “substantial, pervasive and on a scale without known precedent in the hedge fund industry”.
SAC pleaded guilty in a $1.8bn settlement, the largest ever for insider trading, and several of its employees pleaded guilty or were convicted of criminal charges related to the schemes. Prosecutors did not charge Cohen — who did not admit personal fault — with criminal or civil insider trading charges, believing they did not have enough evidence. He was barred from managing client funds again until 2018.
Cohen faced opposition from community activists over the casino even in recent days, with more than 100 protesters gathering on Sunday despite frigid temperatures.
“The decision for us to host a casino in our backyard is something that is going to impact our families for generations to come,” Democratic state senator Jessica Ramos said at the rally.
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