New York’s freshly approved casino trio could be raking in annual gaming revenues of up to $5.6 billion (£4.5 billion), according to new analysis that positions the market as America’s second-biggest gambling destination behind Las Vegas.

CBRE Institutional Research has crunched the numbers following December’s final license approvals, and the projections are frankly massive. Bally’s Bronx, Hard Rock Metropolitan Park in Queens, and Resorts World New York City at Aqueduct Racetrack are all expected to be fully operational by 2031. First-year base case estimates? £4.7 billion in gross gaming revenue.

Gaming-First Approach Sets New York Apart

What makes these venues particularly interesting is their gaming-heavy model. CBRE notes that over 70% of revenue will come from casino floors, a stark contrast to the Las Vegas Strip where gaming accounts for less than a third of property income. These aren’t lifestyle resorts with casinos attached. They’re proper gambling destinations that happen to have hotels.

The scale of the gaming floors is genuinely impressive. Resorts World NYC is planning to become the largest casino in the United States with 6,000 slot machines and 800 tables at full build. Hard Rock Metropolitan Park will feature around 5,000 slots and 375 tables including 30 poker tables, while Bally’s Bronx is targeting 3,500 slots and up to 250 tables with 40 poker positions.

Resorts World Gets Head Start

Resorts World holds a significant advantage as the only venue expanding existing infrastructure rather than building from scratch. The facility already operates and has an established customer base, so it gets a running start. The company expects to open the first phase of its full-scale casino later this year with 4,000 slots and 250 tables. That’s well ahead of its competitors who are targeting 2030 openings.

CBRE’s research highlights that the downstate New York market has been seriously under-penetrated, which explains the bullish forecasts. Worth knowing: the state already leads America in sports betting with $26.3 billion in handle last year, proving there’s real appetite for gambling among New Yorkers. These three venues will finally give punters proper casino options without the schlep to Atlantic City or tribal properties upstate.

Location Advantage and Market Fundamentals

All three sites benefit from exceptional locations with high foot traffic and strong transport links. Over 65 million visitors came to New York City last year. Unlike Vegas, those numbers aren’t showing any signs of declining. The hotels at these properties, ranging from just over 500 rooms at Bally’s Bronx to 2,000 at Resorts World, aren’t really designed to compete with Manhattan’s hospitality market. Analysts Colin Mansfield and Connor Parks suggest they’ll primarily serve to drive gaming demand rather than functioning as standalone hotel operations.

The bull case scenario pushes total annual revenue to $7.8 billion. That would be extraordinary for a regional market. Even the base case figures would immediately establish New York as a major player in American gaming, second only to Nevada. The competitive application process that awarded these licenses was always going to produce winners, but the projected returns suggest the Gaming Commission picked operators capable of building something genuinely significant.

Construction timelines point to the end of the decade for full operations, so it’ll be a while before we see whether these projections hold up. But given New York’s population density, existing gambling enthusiasm, and the sheer scale of these developments, CBRE’s optimism looks well founded. The regional gaming landscape in America is about to get a very large shake-up.