The proposal to turn Nassau Coliseum on Long Island into a casino is moving forward as the project owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp., has submitted a draft of an environmental impact study for the consideration of local governments. The study presents an overall positive assessment of Sands’ plans, though it raises some points that could bring the proposal under greater scrutiny.
Elected officials in Nassau County have been amenable to Sands’ interests so far, despite some protest from the local community. Acceptance of the draft environmental impact study would not represent a final action on Sands’ plans for the Coliseum area.
Meanwhile, there are questions about how a push to regulate online casino play in New York could affect Sands’ commitment to the southern part of the state. Like all other parties interested in one of the three future casino licenses, Sands has much to address.
Sands submits environmental impact review draft
The next stage in the potential approval of a $6 billion casino development project centering on the Nassau Veterans Coliseum has begun. Nassau County has published the 28,000-page draft of the environmental impact study that Sands paid for.
Nassau County’s government will hold an in-person, public hearing on the draft on Dec. 9, 2024, in Mineola, according to Candice Ferrette of Newsday. Ferrette also reports that county residents can submit comments on the study through Jan. 6, 2025.
Approval of the study would represent a significant but not final action in regards to Sands’ casino plans. Sands already holds the lease to the Coliseum but more reviews are necessary before it can proceed with developing a casino there.
Those reviews will come on both the local and state level if Sands proceeds with its proposal. Given the level of community engagement on those plans, the environmental impact study is sure to receive scrutiny from residents.
Community opposition remains robust
Among the potential applications for downstate New York casino licenses, Sands’ proposals might have drawn the most public ire to date. The opposition has included legal proceedings that invalidated a prior agreement between Nassau County and Sands in addition to numerous civic actions.
When the environmental impact study began, groups and residents levied criticisms against the project, stating concerns over a casino’s impact on local drinking water availability and traffic. The study has addressed those concerns and brought up other points.
Study components discuss traffic, water, and more
The environmental impact assessment calls out some of the biggest concerns that residents have voiced publicly.
The study claims that Sands will fund the construction of a new well that would draw almost two million gallons of water on a daily basis, distributing any water the casino complex does not use to the local community. However, the report also states that if Sands determines that there will be other parties that will receive a significant amount of that water, Sands may pursue sharing the cost of the well with those parties.
Additionally, the study provides multiple means by which Sands proposes to mitigate increases in automobile traffic. Those means include adding traffic lanes to streets surrounding the Coliseum and providing bus service from/to the nearest Long Island Rail Station.
The study also brings up potential legal obstacles to the ultimate approval of Sands’ proposal. That includes a potential zoning issue, as the current zoning for the Coliseum and surrounding area does not include gaming.
Sands contends that, “the casino represents a ‘similar entertainment use’ that could be approved by the Town Board.” That language is in the appropriate zoning ordinance.
These are just some examples of what Nassau County officials and residents will be scrutinizing in the coming weeks. Sands’ presence in Nassau County could hinge on other matters in Albany.
Online casino regulation may tame Sands’ excitement
The Las Vegas Sands Corp. has taken a position of opposing the expansion of regulated online gambling as a rule, with that stance spanning back to the days in which Sheldon Adelson led the corporation. That opposition could be a point of contention for Sands in New York.
Bills to create a regulated system for online casino play in the state got some traction in the New York Assembly’s 2024 session, although it was ultimately sidelined. Enactment of such legislation might cause Sands to execute its option to end its lease of the Coliseum.
Even if that doesn’t prove the case, Sands’ could be one of several parties bidding for as many as three licenses to operate a casino in the southern part of New York. Approval of its project from local officials does not guarantee that Sands would get one of those licenses from the state.
As Sands is struggling to gain community support, another potential bid has secured a strong endorsement from its appropriate local officials.
Cohen casino proposal gets local support
Jacob Kaye of the Queens Eagle reports that five community boards relevant to a plan to develop a casino in the parking lot of Citi Field in Queens by New York Mets owner Steven Cohen and Hard Rock Entertainment. Like the lease agreement that Sands has with Nassau County, such support represents an important component of the Cohen/Hard Rock bid for a license.
However, the Cohen/Hard Rock proposal is still lacking a necessary parkland designation change. Only the state legislature can affect such a modification and the state senator representing the area, Jessica Ramos, has shared that she will not file a bill to affect the change.
While others may do so, the parkland designation is a good example of all the intricacy that parties interested in a downstate New York casino license have to navigate. For Cohen/Hard Rock and Sands, another box is now checked.
