Key Committee Votes No On Caesars Palace Times Square Casino

It’s Sept. 17, but it may as well be the Ides of March for Caesars Palace Times Square.

During a Wednesday morning meeting of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), only two of the six members voted in favor of the $5.5 billion casino proposal by SL Green Realty, Caesars Entertainment and Roc Nation. The CAC is tasked with reviewing multiple applications for new casino licenses. 

As such, 1515 Broadway will remain without card tables or slot machines on its floors, as it will not advance to deliberations by the New York State Gaming Commission, which is expected to make final decisions on which applicants will receive the three available downstate gaming licenses in December.

CAC member Laura Smith, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, voted in favor of the plan despite expressing distaste for what she claimed was a rushed process that required two weeks of deliberation from the committee, while former state Assemblymember Richard Gottfried said essentially the opposite before casting a nay vote.

The casino partnership did not immediately provide a comment.

Questions were raised about the true nature of community support for the proposal at an Aug. 13 public hearing, during which many people spoke in favor of creating a gaming floor in Times Square due to job opportunities and increased security in the area.

But others claimed many of those supporters were ​​paid off by the developers and unions.

“This was a vote to protect the magic of Broadway for the 100,000 New Yorkers who depend on it for their livelihoods, and for the tens of millions who come from around the world to experience it,” Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League, said in a statement. “A casino can go anywhere, but Broadway only lives here. We are so filled with gratitude for the committee members and the local elected officials … who looked at the facts, listened to the residents, and stood up for this neighborhood and the theater community.”

A Tulchin Research poll from last week showed that 67 percent of registered voters who live in Midtown, specifically the West Side, were opposed to Caesars Palace Times Square.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.