Las Vegas Sands is determined to construct its $4 billion casino at Uniondale’s Nassau Coliseum. However, the gaming project’s opponents state that a Las Vegas-style casino resort will adversely affect the Long Island community.
Even so, the region’s residents are backing the Las Vegas Sands gaming project before the Nassau County Legislature as they voted for it. Still, some opponents believe that the project will hurt Uniondale’s economy.
They created the “Say No to the Casino Civic Association” shortly after Las Vegas Sands declared its interest in acquiring a downstate New York casino license. The 2013 commercial casino regulation authorized gaming privileges. It included a 10-year moratorium on New York granting the downstate gaming concessions to let its four casinos operate without facing stiff competition from Long Island, Westchester, and New York City operators.
The downstate moratorium has lapsed, hence allowing Sands and other gaming operators to prepare their license bids. Besides, the New York Gaming Location Facility Board is set to start presenting the gaming proposals in 2024 and issue licenses to the top three applicants. Gaming analysts consider Sands as a key contender in the license bid due to its big market capitalization in the country.
Gaming’s Impact
Sands sold the Palazzo and Venetian resorts for $6.25 billion in 2023 to Apollo Global Management and Vici Properties. So, it doesn’t run any gaming venues in the country.
Macau earns the company most of its gaming revenue as it runs Sands Macau, Londoner, Plaza, Parisian, and The Venetian integrated resorts. Still, it owns and runs Marina Bay Sands, which is labeled as the global integrated resort sector’s gold “standard.”
Las Vegas Sands intends to invest part of its Palazzo and Venetian Las Vegas revenue in building the Long Island integrated resort.
Nevertheless, the “Say No to the Casino Civic Association” claims that the project will harm the area. Yet, it intends to organize a town hall on October 18 labeled “The New Epidemic of Teen and Child Gambling: What You Need to Know.”
The meeting is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. EST at the Garden City Middle School. Stop Predatory Gambling’s National Director, Les Bernal, will attend the town hall. The non-profit organization aims to limit gaming’s expansion in the country.
Bernal has made presentations before many state and federal committees on gaming’s adverse effects. Rob Minnick, a Georgetown University graduate, will also attend the meeting. He gradually got addicted to betting while studying.
The civic organization stated that Rob and Les will highlight gambling’s risk among the youth due to an increase in land-based casinos and online gambling access. Las Vegas Sands’ executives claim that it has set various safety measures to prevent the occurrence of problem gambling on its properties.
They released a statement saying that they have an environmental, governance, and society-based leadership.
