Eric Adams to Veto Council Rejection of Bally’s Casino

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Mayor Eric Adams intends to revive Bally’s casino proposal after the City Council rejected a rezoning needed for the plan to move forward.

Adams on Wednesday confirmed that he vetoed the City Council’s vote against the company’s request for zoning changes needed to turn a portion of the city-owned golf course at Bally’s Golf Links into a $4 billion casino complex. Bally’s needs the zoning approval to move forward in the casino competition.

After the City Council’s vote, Adams hinted that he wouldn’t let the decision stand, saying that it “pits boroughs against one another and leaves the Bronx unable to even have a shot at benefiting from the potential of new jobs and new investment in their community.”

Adams first confirmed his veto in a video interview Wednesday with The Real Deal’s Publisher Amir Korangy.

In a statement provided to TRD after Adams’ interview with Korangy, the mayor said the veto will “re-level the playing field and allow the Bronx to have a seat at the table, rather than give an unfair advantage to the other bidders and boroughs.”

“To make myself abundantly clear, this is not an endorsement or expression of support giving a leg up to any casino bid over the others as the City Council has tried to do, but an action I feel is necessary to best ensure a fair and competitive process,” the statement subsequently provided by City Hall said. “May the best applications win.”

The decision now goes back to the City Council, which will need two-thirds of the vote to override the mayor’s veto. To do so, the Council must corral more votes against the rezoning than it secured in the initial vote, which was 28 to nine.

The 28 Council members in the first vote aligned with local Council member Kristy Marmorato, who opposed the project.

Bally’s needed the zoning changes, which included demapping the site as city parkland and granting a zoning designation to allow a mixed-use development, to move forward in the state’s competition for one of the three downstate casino licenses up for grabs. The zoning changes need to be approved before September 30, the deadline for a six-member Community Advisory Committee to vote on the proposal. That vote will determine which casino proposals head to the state Gaming Facility Location Board, which ultimately decides the applications to receive the licenses.