NYC Lobbyists Made Roughly $131M Last Year, Promoting Casinos, Soccer Stadium

NYC Lobbyists Made Roughly $131M Last Year, Promoting Casinos, Soccer Stadium

By: Hellen Zaboulani

New York lobbyists made 8% more in 2023, reporting total compensation of $130 million, up from $121 million in 2022, as per the annual study prepared by the City Clerk’s Office, which regulates the lobbying industry.

As reported by the NY Post, the added windfall was thanks to an extra push to woo Mayor Eric Adams and the city council to open casinos in the Big Apple and allow for a new soccer stadium.  The Post reported that Steve Cohen’s casino bid alone helped  state lobbyists rake in $2 million last year.  Cohen, the billionaire Mets owner, partnered with Hard Rock Entertainment, on an $8 billion casino bid to build a new hotel, casino and music venue to be named “Metropolitan Park” at the currently vacant lots by CitiField.  Cohen’s companies spent a total of nearly $1.4 million to lobby state legislatures, tapping seven different lobbying firms.  HardRock spent another $660,000 to lobby for the project.

Very close to CitiField, another proposed project also enriched lobbyists.  CFG Stadium Group spent $540,000 to win approval to build the first ever soccer stadium in New York City–to be located at Willets Point for the York City Football Club.  Queens Borough President Donovan Richards jokingly told the Post that his schedule has been all the busier because of the Queens projects—namely the Willets Point soccer stadium and the CitiField casino proposal.  “I certainly have no shortage of meetings,” Richards said.

Of course, the other casino bidders are doing their part too.  Wynn Resorts, who is working with Related Companies to propose a casino in Hudson Yards, spent $314,000 on lobbying, per the city data.  MGM Resorts, which hopes to add a full casino with table  games to its slots parlor in Yonkers Raceway, spent $300,000 on lobbying.  Similarly, Genting Resorts World at Aqueduct, also spent $300,000 with the same goal of adding table games to supplement its slot machines.  Further, Bally’s, which took over the Trump Organization’s Ferry Point golf course in The Bronx, forked out $285,000 to lobbyists to help its bid to open a casino there, per the Post. Caesar’s Palace, which has partnered with developer SL Green for a casino bid in Times Square, paid lobbying fees of roughly $185,000, per the city’s annual report.

As per the NY Post, it wasn’t just casino bidders and the soccer stadium hiring lobbyists, other real estate gurus made quite a dent as well. Homeowners for an Affordable New York, a group backed by real estate interests, was responsible for the largest single retainer to a lobbyist — $1.143 million to Fontas Advisors, headed by George Fontas, per the data. The group, which is backed by the likes of the Real Estate Board of NY and Rent Stabilization Association, hired Fontos to lobby the mayor’s office to oppose state legislation that would make it harder for landlords to evict tenants “without good cause”, per lobbying records.

The real estate industry made up an entire third of lobbying spending in 2023 —marking by far the largest imprint by any sector, the data shows.  Some of the other big spenders on lobbying in other sectors included:   Cable giant Charter Communications which spent $775,000 on lobbying to track issues including broadband access; MSG Entertainment spent $594,742 to secure a 5-year extension of its special permit to operate large crowds at Madison Square Garden in Penn Station; Vornado Realty spent $544,557 to redevelop the West Side’s Pier 94 into a film and TV studio campus; RAI Service Company/Reynolds American tobacco company spent $527,835 in its successful bid to block legislation banning menthol cigarettes.