Times Square may get one of the few spectacles it lacks: a casino
TIMES Square, New York City’s famed Crossroads of the World, could hardly be considered lacking. It has dozens of Broadway theatres, swarms of tourists, costumed characters and noisy traffic, all jostling for space with office workers who toil in the area.
Now, one of the city’s biggest commercial developers is pitching something Times Square does not have: a glittering Caesars Palace casino at its core.
The developer, SL Green Realty, and gambling giant Caesars Entertainment are actively trying to enlist local restaurants, retailers and construction workers in joining a pro-casino coalition, as the companies aim to secure one of three new casino licences in the New York City area approved by state legislators this year.
The proposal has enormous implications for Times Square, the symbolical and economic heart of the American theatre industry, and a key part of the city’s office-driven economy.
Overall attendance and box office grosses on Broadway are lagging well behind pre-pandemic levels, and there is considerable anxiety within the industry about how changes in commuting patterns, entertainment consumption and the global economy will affect its long-term health.
A casino in Times Square faces substantial obstacles. There is already a competing bid for a casino in nearby Hudson Yards from another pair of real estate and gambling giants, Related Cos and Wynn Resorts.
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And with casino bids also taking shape in Queens and Brooklyn, there is no assurance that the New York State Gaming Commission will place a casino in Manhattan, let alone Times Square, one of the world’s more complex logistical and economic regions.
Critics worry that putting a casino at 1515 Broadway, the SL Green skyscraper near West 44th Street, would alter the character of a neighbourhood that can ill afford to backslide towards its seedier past, and further overwhelm an already crowded area.
In a copy of a letter soliciting support for the casino, which was obtained by The New York Times, the companies promised to use a portion of the casino’s gambling revenues to fund safety and sanitation improvements in Times Square, including by deploying surveillance drones.
Yet the idea of a casino has already found an influential opponent: the Broadway League, a trade association representing theatre owners and producers.
The congestion in Times Square is both a closely watched sign of vibrancy and a potential irritant, particularly for commuters and theatregoers who sometimes cite the crowds and the cacophony as reasons to stay away.
For New York, Times Square is an important financial engine; the city relies heavily on tourists to spend money at the neighbourhood’s hotels, restaurants, stores and entertainment venues.
The simmering tensions between local power brokers, months before the formal bidding process has even begun, foreshadow the fight ahead for developers hoping to cash in on what could become the most lucrative gambling market in the country, at a time when traditional office-using tenants have become more scarce.
Two existing “racinos” – horse racetracks with video slot machines but no human dealers – are considered front-runners for two of the three licences: Genting Group’s Resorts World New York City in Queens, and MGM Resorts International’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers, New York. NYTIMES
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