Bally’s Bronx Casino Stays Alive After Last-Minute Parkland Alienation Bill

_{Ferry Point in the Bronx, where Bally’s hopes to build a new casino, remains a contender after a successful parkland alienation vote in New York. (Image: Associated Press/Alamy)}

The plan to bring a casino to Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx remained alive last week after a rapid series of events led to a parkland alienation bill passing both chambers of the New York State Legislature.

The legislation will allow the city of New York to designate Bally’s land for commercial use, the same change that the Metropolitan Park project adjacent to Citi Field successfully fought for in May.

Last-Minute Lobbying Goes in Bally’s Favor

The parkland alienation issues have been known for some time, but Bally’s had failed to get a hearing from the New York City Council as of early June. That set up a do-or-die meeting for Bally’s at the June 11 meeting, as it was the last chance for the city to pass a “home rule” resolution before the end of the state’s legislative session.

That led to intense lobbying both for and against the resolution in the day before the meeting. While Bally’s tried to win over councilors, the backers of Metropolitan Park, being developed by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock International, worked behind the scenes to prevent the Bronx project from getting enough votes to pass the home rule message.

“Their large army of lobbyists is going very hard,” an anonymous council member told Politico.

One of the challenges for Bally’s was that a home rule resolution typically requires a two-thirds majority to pass. However, a formal message of support from the mayor would be enough to drop that to a simple majority vote, and that’s exactly what Bally’s got from Mayor Eric Adams.

In the end, the resolution received 32 votes, with 12 voting against the proposal and seven council members abstaining. Had Adams not delivered his message, the resolution would have required 34 votes from the 51-member council to pass; with his message, it narrowly surpassed the 26 necessary votes.

Legislature Quickly Passes Parkland Alienation Bill

Adams’ support is not without controversy. The mayor faced federal corruption charges that were dropped by the Department of Justice in February 2025, after officials in Donald Trump’s administration asked prosecutors to drop the case, leading several federal prosecutors to resign from their posts rather than do so.

That caused Adams’ message of support to raise some eyebrows, as the Trump Organization will receive a $115 million payday if Bally’s wins a downstate casino license. But a spokesperson for Mayor Adams denied that this was a factor in his decision.

“Mayor Adams supports a fair process with as many competitive casino bids in New York City as possible, each of which would bring good-paying union jobs and an economic boost to the community,” spokesperson William Fowler said. 

“It does not matter which proposal is selected by the state so long as it’s in New York City. We would be supportive of more than one selection in New York City, but that requires more than one competitive proposal.”

The positive vote allowed the state legislature to then take up Bally’s parkland alienation request. And while the New York Assembly stretched its session into the following week, the New York Senate ended its time in session on the morning of Friday, June 13, leaving precious little time for the votes.

But that didn’t prove to be a problem. The Senate passed the alienation bill by a 55-4 margin on June 13, followed later that day by a 127-5 vote in the Assembly. The bill hasn't been sent to Governor Kathy Hochul yet, but there's no reason to think she'd veto it.

The move keeps Bally’s alive as one of eight likely bids for the three downstate casino licenses available in New York. 

Despite its potential, the proposal is viewed as one of the less likely contenders among those expected to submit bids by the June 27 application deadline.

Potentially stronger bids include those from Metropolitan Park, the two racinos in the mix, Empire City Casino and Resorts World New York City, and the Caesars Palace Times Square proposal.