Call it the art of the deal if you will, call it blind luck if you insist, but President Donald Trump may yet receive $115 million if Bally’s Corporation secures a casino license in New York
President Donald Trump is often credited to be a prescient businessman, never mind his strings of bankruptcies and the embarrassing if not venal crash of the “Trump University.” Now, some of this business prescience is finally showing as POTUS may be in for a $115-million payday should New York City grant Bally’s Corp. a license to open a casino.
Trump Poised to Scoop $115M in Payday if Bally’s Bid Succeeds
The proposed location, a golf course that was bought from Trump’s company by Bally’s in 2023 for a mere $60 million and immediately rebranded to Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point, may yet bring the President an extra reward.
When Trump’s company and Bally’s Corp. agreed on the sale, a clause was included, with Bally’s Corp. agreeing to pay the then former president $115 million should it successfully bid for a casino to be built at the 18-hole course on the Bronx shoreline.
But President Trump’s payday is far from happening or being a shoo-in. In fact, there are at least 11 individual bidders who are hoping to get one of the three licenses on offer by the city, which means an overly competitive field where no player can be certain of their project’s success.
Besides Bally’s, there are more companies trying to get a foothold, including Caesars, which is planning to build a casino in Times Square, an unmistakable win for the company if it succeeds. In the meantime, Steve Cohen, the owner of baseball franchise the New York Mets, wants to plant a casino right outside the team’s home stadium in Queens.
At the same time, existing operators are also keen to benefit, with MGM Resorts keen to get the right to improve its Empire City “racino” and pour more money into making it more appealing to visitors.
Genting is also pushing to expand and overhaul its Resorts World racino, which is also found in Queens. Naturally, there have been concerns about whether the President’s invisible hand could play a role in what companies get drafted, but this is only speculative.
Bally’s Could Also Be Hurt By Its Loose Association with Trump
New York is a deeply-blue state, though with strong democratic instincts, which makes any interference of the sort highly improbable, not least because Bally’s would not put itself in a position where it needs to curry political favors to get the licenses it needs to do business.
Securing a license has proven an ordeal, however, with companies facing NIMBYism par excellence, as well as land-use approvals, zoning requirements and plethora of related red tape that has been growing more onerous.
On the flipside, Bally’s Corp. deal with Trump could, in theory, hurt the company’s prospects, although this would also be unfair towards the gambling major.
