Sands hedging its bets on a casino, looking at new developer for the Hub

Daily Point

Time running out on efforts to get a third-party bidder for a license

Las Vegas Sands has one last “Hail Mary” effort still in the works in its attempt to find a company that could take over a bid for a casino license at the Nassau Hub, one source with knowledge of the discussions told The Point Thursday.

Sands had been in talks with DraftKings about potentially taking on its bid, but that attempt has fallen through, multiple sources confirmed.

But while DraftKings wasn’t the only company with whom Sands was in talks, one source close to the project said the major question at this point is whether it’s too late to get any deal done.

“I feel like time is quickly expiring on us … And this is a heavy thing to lift in a short period of time,” that source said. Discussions are expected to continue over the next week — but the source cast doubt on whether they could come to fruition. “I think after the next week the clock has run out,” the source said. “Can you do something in a week? I highly doubt it.”

So, Sands is hedging its bets and is in discussions with “large-scale, mixed-use developers” about alternative plans for the land around Nassau Coliseum — if the casino path closes, the source said.

To further that effort, Sands is still working to complete the state environmental review process with Nassau County, and the zoning process with the Town of Hempstead. At the same time, it is preparing to negotiate a new lease with the county that includes development rights — which Sands’ current lease does not have. All of that could pave the way for development alternatives at the Hub and eventually require a transfer of the lease to a different developer.

For now, however, sources said Sands isn’t giving up on the possibility of a gaming license bid quite yet. The bid itself is practically finished, sources said. But there are several sticking points that made it tough to reach a final deal with DraftKings and are factors in discussions with alternative companies. First, any bidder taking over Sands’ efforts to win a casino license would have to uphold the generous commitments the company has already made to the county, the town, and the surrounding communities. Secondly, any other bidder would have to maintain the size and scope of the development proposal Sands initially put forward. Some potential alternative bidders have suggested scaling down Sands’ efforts.

Attempts to either change existing commitments or the project’s scope represent “a nonstarter,” the source close to the project said.

Then there’s the potential for success for any new casino bidder.

“At the end of the day we don’t think assigning this bid to someone who has no chance of winning makes any sense, either,” said the source close to the project.

That’s a calculus that has changed recently. A source with knowledge of the bidding process noted that the State Legislature’s approval of the request to alienate parkland at the Citi Field parking lot alters how some other potential bidders view the process, as the move paves the way for New York Mets owner Steve Cohen to bid for one of the three available casino licenses, assuming Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the bill. The source said Cohen is now seen as one of the favorites, along with MGM Resorts in Yonkers and Resorts World at Aqueduct.

“I think when you see the legislature pass a bill that advances the interests of one bidder specifically, how could that not give any other bidder pause?” that source said.

While some potential bidders appear to be continuing to move forward with their plans, including rap star Jay-Z, who is proposing a casino for Times Square, the pool of potential casino bidders has already shrunk. Wynn Resorts dropped its effort to bid for a casino at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. And Bally’s, which had hoped to bid in the Bronx, also requires park alienation — but has not yet seen that effort move forward, in part because it hasn’t gotten the required home rule message from the City Council. The City Council did provide a similar home rule message for Cohen but on Wednesday, the Council refused to even allow a vote on the Bally’s request. Meanwhile, bills in Albany to advance the Bally’s parkland issue remain in committee, with about two weeks to go until the end of the state legislative session. 

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Reluctant rooter

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Final Point

Trump pardon of ex-labor boss from LI draws political buzz

As with dozens of similar recent actions, President Donald Trump has not volunteered an explanation for his latest pardon of a Long Islander, James T. Callahan, 65, who had led the high-powered International Union of Operating Engineers. Callahan, of Lindenhurst, had pleaded guilty to charges he received at least $315,000 in free tickets to sports events and concerts, and other gifts, from a company with which the union did millions of dollars in business. His clemency arrived days before he was due to be sentenced in federal court

The IUOE, a powerful construction union, has been a key player on the New York development scene for decades and thus has a political profile. In a detailed story last year, the right-leaning Washington Examiner highlighted the fact that the union spent more than $10 million backing Democrats in the 2024 election cycle.

Indeed, Republican Trump’s corruption pardons and other favors have been somewhat bipartisan. Among the Democratic pols he famously got off the hook were New York City Mayor Eric Adams and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But motive for those waves of the presidential wand was easier to speculate upon. Adams was “incentivized” to go along with the new administration’s deportations and Blagojevich had appeared on “The Apprentice,” suggesting a mutual personal fondness.

With Callahan, the possible connections are not so clear. Was it the president’s old New York relationships with the industry when, as Fred Trump’s son, he became well known himself as a developer nearly half a century ago? One insider versed in city real estate politics speculated Callahan or associates in the union might have been known to the Trumps from private business. But it wasn’t even clear who recommended the pardon.

As described on an AFL-CIO website, he was a maintenance foreman in 1993 when his team worked on the World Trade Center site after the first terrorist bombing. After 9/11, as a business representative, Callahan was among those in the union who responded, “working throughout the recovery efforts at ground zero,” the description says.

This was part of the biography distributed when he was named grand marshal of the 2022 New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

As the Examiner’s story describes it, Callahan, “who himself takes home nearly half a million dollars a year in union compensation, employs family member Thomas Callahan as the vice president of the union on a salary of $113,000 per year. James J. Callahan, meanwhile, makes about $250,000 annually as a director, and John Callahan receives roughly $215,000 per year for his work as an equipment assistant.”

“Tax forms only identify the three as “family member[s]” of Callahan, not divulging their specific relationships.”

The situation was put into a partisan framework by Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Committee which opposes “forced’ unionization laws and supports so-called “right to work” laws. Dues payers lose out on such huge expenses for resorts, hotels and meals paid with union funds, Mix said only two months ago. And he asserted that despite widespread membership support for Trump, the “bosses” didn’t hesitate to back Democrat Kamala Harris for president.

That’s a sharp party line contrast to what Ed Martin, a Department of Justice official now heading the pardon process, had to say on Monday in an online posting: “No MAGA left behind.” He applied it not to Callahan, but to a former Virginia sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who’d been convicted of bribery. Closer to home, Martin’s quip would suit former GOP Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony tax evasion. Trump backers have called the case against Grimm a “witch hunt” not unlike Trump’s own.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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