On Wednesday, Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman accused Hofstra University of secretly planning a Queens casino project to derail what would be the county’s bid for one of three available casino licenses afforded by NY state. The accusation alluded to hedge fund magnate and Mets owner Steve Cohen, along with Hard Rock International, joining forces with Hofstra to propose a casino for the area surrounding Citi Field, which is the home stadium of the New York Mets.
Nassau County wishes to develop the area around the Nassau Coliseum with the Las Vegas Sands Company in order to turn the long-financially-struggling arena into a gaming and entertainment complex. This property is near Hofstra University.
At a county news conference, Blakeman presented an internal email from an unnamed lobbyist to Hard Rock and Steve Cohen’s team forwarding a local news story about the Nassau Project, stating it would check if Hofstra University would “oppose this move.” Blakeman and the presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature also released subpoenas sent to the university and its president for correspondence between its leaders, Hard Rock, Steven Cohen, his company, and its lobbyists. They are also subpoenaing the president of Hofstra to testify in front of the county legislature at a hearing this coming Monday.
According to Blakeman, colluding to prevent competition is against the strict guidelines for the casino licensing process.
“You have an applicant for a license that is not supposed to be colluding or coordinating with any other entity against anybody else’s application,” Blakeman stated at the conference. “There is evidence that Hofstra is doing that. We find this very troubling.”
This is not the first conflict between Nassau County and Hofstra, as the university strongly opposed the redevelopment of the coliseum into a casino complex at first, referencing the dangers of gambling and the potential effect it could have on its students.
After Blakeman and the Nassau County legislature negotiated a deal with Las Vegas Sands to lease the area around the coliseum last year, Hofstra sued the county over the deal. A judge sided with the university in November which jeopardized the agreement between the Sands and Nassau, but the county appealed the decision soon after.
“I said all along it would be governmental malpractice if we didn’t do this deal,” Blakeman claimed at the conference. “So, we did the deal. Hofstra sued us… We believed that Hofstra had the wrong opinion, but we thought their intentions might be true.”
In a statement received by NY1, a spokesperson for Hard Rock International wrote “Hard Rock has not had any communication whatsoever with Hofstra University or its president related to Nassau. We are committed to integrity, honesty, and transparency in the RFA process for a downstate license in New York and will not waver from that position. We made this clear to all of our vendors and partners and will not tolerate any behavior that would counter that position.”
A spokesperson for Steve Cohen did not respond to a request for comment by the publication.
Hofstra’s spokesperson claimed it would respond to the subpoena “in compliance with applicable law,” adding: “Hofstra, as a member of this community since 1935, opposes the casino siting at the Nassau Hub for multiple reasons that have been made clear in our public statements and court filings. This subpoena is just another spurious attempt to distract and impede a fair and open process regarding this transfer of Nassau County land.”
