NYC Mayor Adams Boosts Bally’s New York Bid, Again

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It seemed as though Bally’s Bronx casino bid was all but dead after a failed council vote, but NYC Mayor Eric Adams lended his support for the second time.

Two weeks ago, the New York City Council voted against a land use zoning change from Bally’s Corp. for its Bronx casino proposal, which seemed to have effectively killed the project’s hopes.

But on Wednesday, the proposal was raised from the dead by Mayor Eric Adams, who vetoed the vote and sent the matter back to the council. Adams contended in a statement that his veto wasn’t an endorsement of the project; rather, it was an attempt to keep the field of applicants as wide as possible.

Of the other seven bids for downstate New York casino licenses, three are in Manhattan, two are in Queens, one is in Brooklyn and one in Yonkers. The Bally’s project is the only proposal from the Bronx. State regulators will issue up to three available licenses by the end of the year.

“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,” Adams’ statement reads. “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 leader.”

This is the second time Adams has intervened in support of the project. In late June, Bally’s was up against the clock as it needed approval from both the council and the state Legislature before the state’s June 27 application deadline.

Under normal circumstances, the proposal would have needed a two-thirds majority approval from the council, but by filing a letter of support, Adams lowered the threshold to a simple majority, which passed, but not by two-thirds.

Now that the vote has been vetoed, the council could try to rally against the project and garner a two-thirds majority to override the veto, but that is far from certain. Infighting among members and a summer schedule where not all members are present will present a steep challenge for Bally’s opponents to try to kill the proposal once and for all.