New York Focus · Nick Garber · September 4, 2026
The owners of New York City’s brand-new casino are doing everything they can to persuade Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration to lower their tax bill by hundreds of millions of dollars. But Hochul appears unmoved — raising the odds that the dispute will end up in court. Resorts World New York City, which in April became the first full-scale casino to open downstate, is locked in a dispute with the state about whether it needs to pay upward of $150 million a year to the state’s horseracing industry on top of its regular taxes. Resorts World argues it can subtract those payments from its total taxes — and has suggested it may abandon a planned $3.3 billion expansion of its Jamaica, Queens complex if forced to pay the higher rate. Resorts World’s claim centers on language it included in its casino application last year, in which it proposed to pay a “tax rate of 56 percent, inclusive of racing support.” The state said it never signed off on that particular language, which it says would run afoul of the law. “By law, tax rates do not, and have never, included racing support payments,” Hochul spokesperson Gordon Tepper told New York Focus in a statement. The state budget would take a hit if Resorts World’s argument won out. “The State’s priority is to generate substantial tax revenue for public education and mass transit, ensure continued support for the racing industry, and deliver the investment, jobs and economic benefits Resorts World promised for Southeast Queens & New York State,” Tepper said. The casino’s lobbying blitz in the spring resulted in a stalemate, with the state legislature voting to kick the can down the road for a year and ensure that the horseracing industry keeps getting payments while the fight plays out. But Resorts World is pushing again to codify its own interpretation of the tax rate, hoping to resolve the fight ahead of a Sept. 4 deadline for the casino owners to file a legal challenge. “We are having constructive conversations with the state and are hopeful about continuing to build on our successful partnership,” Resorts World spokesperson Stefan Friedman said in a statement. Friedman did not respond to questions about whether the company is seriously considering abandoning its expansion project. Some lawmakers have taken the casino’s side. Last week, Congressman Gregory Meeks and nine other local lawmakers called on the Gaming Commission to clarify that Resorts World’s 56 percent tax rate includes racing support. The uncertainty threatens “billions of dollars in private investment, thousands of jobs, local businesses, and the communities we represent,” the officials wrote in a letter . The 56 percent tax rate Resorts World proposed in its application to the state Gaming Commission last year is much higher than the maximum tax rates offered by the other two winning casinos, Bally’s Bronx and Metropolitan Park in Queens, which will pay 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Resorts World, owned by the Malaysian conglomerate Genting, says it would effectively pay a 72 percent tax rate on slot machines if the racing support payments had to be made separately. (State officials say the other two casinos will make the payments separately, and they have raised no public objections.) Resorts World already held a groundbreaking in July for its expansion, which is supposed to include a 2,000-room hotel, an arena, 6,000 slot machines and 800 gaming tables — creating 5,000 permanent jobs once completed by 2029. “Based on what they tell me, the jeopardy comes with the lenders.”
—State Senator Joe Addabbo
Queens state Senator Joe Addabbo, a strong supporter of the casino, said Resorts World executives have told him that the higher tax rate could threaten their ability to obtain financing for the expansion. “Based on what they tell me, the jeopardy comes with the lenders,” Addabbo said. “If 56 percent turns into 72 percent, I think any rational person would see that as a problem, let alone a bank.” Resorts World plans to rely heavily on borrowed money to build its expansion, according to the state regulators who reviewed the casino bid last year. Even as it recommended giving Resorts World a license, a state panel last year warned that it had “concerns that the project’s financing plan relies heavily on future operating cash flow and future debt financing to fund a substantial portion of development costs.” Resorts World has continued to woo powerful officials as it pushes its tax vision. Last month, the casino sponsored a concert on Martha’s Vineyard featuring hip-hop legends Rakim, Slick Rick and Big Boi. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appeared to be in attendance, according to a social media post he made. Sources told New York Focus in June that legislative leaders were open to Resorts World’s argument, even as the Gaming Commission opposed it. Patrick Jenkins, a top Albany lobbyist who is close to Heastie, also posted photos from the event. Jenkins’s firm is one of seven different lobbying companies on Genting’s payroll this year, state records show. Friedman, the Resorts World spokesperson, said the company hosts “widely attended public events on Martha’s Vineyard every year to extend our brand recognition — particularly important now that we have New York City’s first commercial casino.” He did not respond directly when asked whether Resorts World would report the concert as lobbying activity. Revenue from the new downstate casinos is supposed to flow to public schools and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the state’s financial plan assumes that Resorts World will pay the tax rate that was accepted by the Gaming Commission, said Tim Ruffinen, a spokesperson for the Division of the Budget. A state-commissioned report previously projected that Resorts World would pay about $2 billion each in MTA and education taxes between 2027 and 2036, assuming the casino paid the 56 percent tax rate. Well over $500 million is at stake in the dispute, since Resorts World must make the racing support payments on its own before the other two downstate casinos open. That is not expected to happen until around 2030, since Bally’s and Metropolitan Park must be built from the ground up — unlike Resorts World, which converted its existing video-lottery facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack into a full-scale casino while it builds its expansion. Vicki Been, an NYU Law School professor and former deputy mayor who chaired the state board that recommended giving Resorts World a casino license last year, said in an interview that she believes the company has no standing to demand changes. She noted that the board issued written guidance against any changes to the tax rates, after a previous instance in which Resorts World tried to amend its application. “We wanted to make it crystal clear that if they went back to the legislature and said, ‘It’s so unfair that the others bid a lot lower and they’re paying a lot less’ — well, that’s the bidding process, that’s what you bid,” she said.