MGM surprisingly dropped its bid to build a casino in Yonkers on Tuesday – a move that whittles the field of new prospective gambling dens downstate.
The move by MGM Resorts International – first reported by Crain’s and confirmed by The Post – to withdraw an application to expand its existing Empire City outpost leaves a trio of contenders for three coveted state gaming licenses.
The state Gaming Commission is set to make the final decision on awarding up to three casino licenses by year’s end.
But only three proposals now remain, following MGM bowing out.
Mets’ owner Steve Cohen’s bid to open a $8 billion casino complex next to Citi Field remains active, as do applications for Bally’s at a former Trump golf course in The Bronx and Resorts World’s at Queens’ Aqueduct race track.
MGM representatives, in a statement reported by Bloomberg, said they withdrew because of heightened competition.
“The newly defined competitive landscape – with four proposals clustered in a small geographic area – challenges the returns we initially anticipated from this project,” the statement read.
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