Steve Cohen’s $8 Billion Casino Plan Ruined By NY Lawmaker

A Queens state senator whose support is critical to Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plan to build an $8 billion casino and entertainment complex next to Citi Field said she won’t introduce legislation needed to move the project forward, Laura Nahmias and Zach Williams reported for Bloomberg News.

The decision by Senator Jessica Ramos deals a potentially fatal blow to Cohen’s chances of winning one of three available state licenses to build a casino in the New York City area. I Photo: Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Poker

The decision by Senator Jessica Ramos, a progressive Democrat, deals a potentially fatal blow to Cohen’s chances of winning one of three available state licenses to build a casino in the New York City area.

The legislation is needed to allow a parking lot that sits on state-owned parkland to be used for commercial purposes.

“I resent the conditions and the generations of neglect that have made many of us so desperate that we would be willing to settle,” Ramos said.

“I will not introduce legislation to alienate parkland in Corona for the purposes of a casino,” Ramos said, adding that while she believed constituents “want investment and opportunity” and “are desperate for green space and recreation,” she disagreed with the premise “that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off.”

Many other local elected officials have already said they support Cohen’s proposal, but Ramos has withheld her endorsement for months, as Cohen and his team courted her approval.