MGM Empire City talks about its record of paying taxes at a conference of New York casinos.

MGM Empire City has been doing business in New York for decades in some form.  But in a competitive field for NY casino licenses, would that history be enough?

 Last month, the community advisory committee (CAC) met for the first time to talk about the MGM Empire City racino. On Thursday, they met again to hear a presentation about the NY casino project itself.

 MGM is one of eight companies who want to get one of the three open casino licenses in downstate New York. The licenses will be given out by the end of the year.  The process is now at the CAC phase, which means that each applicant is being evaluated based on how much support they have in the community.

 Each project needs four positive votes from its committee to move on to the next round of voting. MGM could have the smallest margin for error because its CAC has five members, while the NYC CAC has six.  Seven of the eight CACs have held at least one meeting, and Bally's Bronx will be next.  That being said, MGM was the only applicant who didn't show up to the first meeting, and no one knows why.

 The main point of the presentation was the property's long history with Yonkers and the state.  Because of this, most of the people who spoke were representing the property itself, not corporate authorities.

 MGM wants to spend $2.3 billion to expand and renovate the complex, just as Resorts World NYC, another racino.  If MGM gets a licence, they will completely remodel the casino by adding a new entrance and porte cochere, a new gambling floor and a 5,000-seat entertainment facility.  The goal for the first phase launch is July 2027, which would be the second-fastest speed to market in the field after Resorts World.

 "The best possible corporate citizen"
 Louie Theros, president and COO of Empire City, led the presentation on Thursday. He talked about the site's history, which goes back more than 100 years.  The 95-acre site has changed a lot over the years. Most recently, approximately 20 years ago, when the Rooney family held it, it went from being a racecourse to a video lottery terminal (VLT) facility.

 MGM bought the building in 2019 and promised to spend $1 billion on the purchase and improvements.  In the last six years, the corporation has increased the property's payroll and made improvements to many of its facilities.  Since getting its VLT licence, it has also paid more than $5 billion in taxes, including $1.5 billion while MGM owned it.  This is one of the best reasons to give it a licence.

 "Let me assure you that Empire has been, is, and will continue to be the best possible corporate citizen it can be to Yonkers, its residents, and the community," Theros stated.

 Empire City is already a racecourse and has given hundreds of millions of dollars to racing purses. If the state chooses it, it would keep doing so.  Theros was adamant that the racing assistance "will continue," banging his fist on the table as he asserted this.

 Theros stated, "In short, Yonkers and our workers have been waiting for this project for years."  "They have worked hard for it and deserve it."

 Coming together of upstate and downstate
 People from JCJ Architecture looked at pictures and animations of the expansion and contrasted the new features to the views from the property as they are now.  Gold and black were the main colours inside the NY casino, theatre, and meeting rooms, along with white marble finishes.

 The existing property shows its history and several stages on the outside, since it is made up of multiple earlier extensions.  Most of this has been in the shape of new parking lots and other buildings.  But if the enlargement is authorised, designers would add more plants to the grounds.

 A drawing from the outside of how the new property would look when it is done (COURTESY: EC)
 Mike Larson, the principal of JCJ, said that the racino's location is a good middle ground for people from both downstate and upstate New York.  So, the designers tried to make a design that looked modern and would appeal to those living in cities, all against the backdrop of the beautiful wilderness.  The upgrades would take away almost five acres of asphalt in all.

 Larson added, "Our project site is at a very unique point of convergence."  “It is next to New York City, which is a huge city, to the south, and it is a gateway to the beautiful New York countryside to the north.  We used this coming together as a model for how the new MGM Empire City should look.

 The CAC needs to hold at least two public hearings for the proposal in the future.  The first one will take place on August 11 at 6 p.m. local time.  There must be a binding vote on this New York casino project by September 30.