MGM on Tuesday unexpectedly withdrew its on line casino license utility for Empire Metropolis in Yonkers.
“Right now, MGM Resorts made the tough resolution to withdraw its utility for a industrial on line casino license in Yonkers, New York,” the corporate stated in a press release. “Since submitting our utility in June, the aggressive and financial assumptions underpinning our utility have shifted, altering our return expectations on the proposed $2.3 billion funding.”
The corporate stated their bid to grow to be a full-fledged on line casino with desk video games was contingent on receiving a 30-year license however “primarily based on newly issued steering from the State of New York,” they now solely anticipate to qualify for a 15-year license.
MGM additionally cited “the newly outlined aggressive panorama — with 4 proposals clustered in a small geographic space” — as posing further challenges to the returns they initially anticipated from the mission.
MGM would have renovated Empire Metropolis On line casino at Yonkers Raceway to incorporate a sportsbook, high-limit lounge, a 5,000-seat venue, new eating places and occasion areas, a parking storage and extra. The proposal additionally included commitments to enhancing native streets and parks.
Whereas the enlargement is not going to go forward as deliberate, MGM stated it intends to maintain Empire Metropolis’s slot parlors open.
“We stay dedicated to working the property in its present format and consider it’s going to proceed to get pleasure from success serving clients in Yonkers and the encompassing communities,” the assertion learn.
MGM’s proposed Empire Metropolis On line casino superior to the ultimate spherical of consideration for a profitable state license final month — marking one of many solely NYC-area on line casino functions to thus far survive the committee approval course of.
There at the moment are solely three remaining contenders within the high-stakes contest for as much as three gaming licenses at downstate places: two in Queens at Resorts World on the Aqueduct Racetrack and Citi Area — backed by Mets proprietor Steve Cohen — and a Bally’s in The Bronx on the former Trump golf course.
Proposals for casinos in Occasions Sq. and Hudson Yards beforehand fell aside over neighborhood opposition, however MGM’s proposal had handed a neighborhood vote.
My assertion @EmpireCCasino @GovKathyHochul @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/PH22PMiile
— Mayor Mike Spano (@MayorMikeSpano) October 14, 2025
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano was blindsided by Tuesday’s announcement and referred to as for an investigation.
“This resolution by MGM defies all logic, and it’s nothing in need of a betrayal to the folks of Yonkers and Westchester County,” Spano stated in a press release. “I’m calling on Governor Hochul to launch an impartial investigation into this course of, as a result of the explanations MGM offers for its 180-degree reversal simply don’t add up.”
“It’s no secret that the massive winner from this reversal will likely be Bally’s proposal for a on line casino on the former Trump Hyperlinks in Whitestone,” Spano continued. “It’s additionally no secret that Bally’s has a cope with Donald Trump that they are going to pay him an extra $115 million if they’ll open a on line casino there.”
Spano, noting the identical guidelines apply to the opposite bidders who haven’t withdrawn their functions, stated an investigation is required to guarantee his neighborhood that there’s “no linkage between MGM’s resolution and the large monetary profit to Donald Trump.”
“The folks of Yonkers should know if this course of was tainted or manipulated in any manner,” he concluded. “One thing doesn’t add up right here. The folks deserve solutions.”
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