Las Vegas Sands will no longer pursue its $6 billion proposal to build a casino resort at the Nassau Coliseum site in Uniondale, prompting the project’s opponents to release a huge sigh of relief.
The company will not apply in June for one of three available downstate gaming licenses in New York. Sands officials said that while they “strongly believe in the development opportunity of a land-based downstate casino license in New York,” they cited a range of market forces, including the rise of online gambling, economic uncertainty in the U.S. and a strategic shift to preserve shareholder value as the reason for pulling out.
The proposal included a 400,000-square-foot casino, hotels, restaurants, retail space and a convention center, with the expectation of creating more than 8,500 construction jobs and over 5,000 permanent positions across the 72-acre site.
At a Council of East Meadow Community Organizations meeting, also known as CEMCO, held about an hour after the news regarding the Sands broke on April 23 in the East Meadow Public Library, several of CEMCO’s board members explained that they were actively sitting on various committees regarding the proposed casino and property development.
“I sat on the environmental committee to learn what was happening in that area,” Joe Parisi, the group’s president said. “The reason that we did that was to stay close to the project and understand if there was anything truly detrimental.”
Parisi said they were still waiting to learn what impacts could potentially affect East Meadow, adding they’d keep the community in the loops as news developed.
“I’m elated, absolutely elated that it appears this casino will not go forward,” said Pearl Jacobs, of Uniondale, a member of the Say No to the Casino Civic Association and president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association.
“A casino at that location was a horrible idea,” she added, also noting the high density of traffic and the impact of air pollution on the communities.
Jacobs added that casinos negatively impact property values, with the potential of deflating prices of nearby homes by 2 to 10 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
On Thursday, Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow sent a cease-and-desist letter to County Executive Bruce Blakeman to halt all financial and resource expenditures surrounding the Sands casino project. During a news conference that morning, Koslow said there’s no clear path forward for the project and he’s concerned about “wasting time, energy and money” on something that is “not what people wanted.”
Koslow, the Democratic candidate for county executive, said he’s in favor of developing the site — if it brings in the money that the casino promised and aligns with what the community wants.
“We need to invest in a real project that’s going to get done, that people want, that has community buy-in,” he said at the conference. “We can certainly do a hotel, an entertainment facility, with a convention center, something that’s going to bring more people here, something that’s going to bring tourism here.
“I intend to work with developers to develop a project that has real long-term benefits to the entire county,” he added.
In August 2024, the Nassau County Legislature approved, in an 18-1 vote, a 42-year operational lease agreement with the company for the Coliseum and surrounding land, meaning Sands would be responsible for the general upkeep and maintenance of the property but could not build or develop it.
“I voted for it,” Koslow said about the lease agreement, “because I want the jobs in Nassau County. I believe we have to keep our union workers employed, and that lease gave our workers jobs, and my hope was that we can get some sort of project that would get our unions working.”
Communities surrounding the Coliseum, particularly Uniondale, Hempstead, Garden City and East Meadow, along with Hofstra University, openly opposed the project, raising concerns about increased traffic, noise, air pollution and water consumption.
Blakeman, who was a forceful advocate for the proposal, issued a statement through Chris Boyle, his director of communications.
“County Executive Bruce Blakeman has been aware of certain pressures that have factored into Las Vegas Sands’ rethinking of land-based brick and mortar casinos in the United States,” Boyle said in the statement.
“The County Executive is grateful that Las Vegas Sands is committed to the development of the Coliseum site with or without a casino. However, there is strong interest from gaming organizations which have been in confidential discussions with Nassau County in taking the place of Las Vegas in the licensing application process,” Boyle added.
“Nassau County will crystallize within the next 30 days whether or not to entertain a casino component or develop the site without,” he further stated. “In either event there will be an exciting new development that will create jobs and positive economic activity.”
Hofstra, which previously filed a lawsuit against the Nassau County Planning Commission for not following proper protocols when granting the Coliseum lease to Sands, released a statement in favor of the withdrawal.
“Hofstra University is pleased with Las Vegas Sand’s decision to abandon their application for a license to build a casino at the Nassau Coliseum,” Susan Poser, Hofstra president, said. “Over the past 90 years, Hofstra has been deeply invested in the future of this region, and we are eager to be a part of planning for development in the Nassau Hub that would promote, sustainable economic growth, enhance the quality of life for all who live and work here, and serve the true needs of Nassau County and Long Island.”
The Say No to the Casino Civic Association, whose members have been vocal opponents of the project since the beginning, is “thrilled” after a long fight against the “wholly destructive casino,” according to a statement issued by members Monica Kiely and Allison O’Brien Silva. The group supports the search for a development on the site that “benefits rather than exploits.”
“While we are concerned the door remains open for the county to find a new casino partner, it was always a bad idea, and it will continue to be a bad idea, whether the county works with Las Vegas Sands or another predatory gambling company looking to extract wealth from our community,” the statement read. “If a third party wishes to enter the process, our unrelenting opposition will fight until the end.”
Additional reporting by Jordan Vallone. Have an opinion on the Sands situation? Send letter to jbessen@liherald.com.
