Manhattan politicos have squashed Gov. Cuomo’s plan to fast track a Las Vegas-style casino in the Big Apple, The Post has learned.
As The Post exclusively reported in March, three big name casinos — Wynn Resorts, Bally’s Corp. and Las Vegas Sands — have been gearing up for a rare opportunity to compete for a New York City-area casino license as soon as this year.
But efforts to move the process up by two whole years — to 2021 from 2023 — have collapsed amid strong objections from Manhattan legislators, sources said.
“I adamantly oppose any casino in Manhattan,” Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who represents the Upper West Side, told The Post. “I believe it would be seriously detrimental to the residential and commercial quality of Manhattan.”
State legislators had been working for months to get around Manhattan’s objections, including by crafting a bill to give Manhattan officials the right to decide for themselves on any casino license proposals that came their way.
But, Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not like the idea of giving the powerful island borough special rights, sources said, and the measure could not pass without it.
Gov. Cuomo was opposed to the idea of giving
