A Nas backed casino bid to build at Aqueduct Resorts World in Queens took a step forward Thursday after the bid was apporved. Just days after a Jay-Z affiliated group was rejected. The $5 billion dollar proposal includes a concert hall and a sports academy.
It’s an “Ether”-level diss.
A Nas-backed bid to build a casino at Aqueduct Resorts World in Queens took a step forward Thursday — just days after a Jay-Z affiliated group was told no thanks.
Aqueduct won a preliminary approval from a state sitting board to move onto the next stage to receive one of up to three casino licenses, a victory that had one Queens politician ready to dig up Nas’ infamous rap beef with Jay-Z, whose Caesars Times Square bid was flatly rejected last week.
A proposal for a casino at Aqueduct Resorts World in Queens backed by rapper Nas won preliminary approval from a state board.Getty Images
A rendering for the Resort Worlds casino at Aqueduct racetrack.AP
“There’s a theme in Queens and I know Nas is a part of it,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said. “Queens gets the money!”
“Sorry Jay-Z. We win again,” the borough president quipped. “I just had to rub it in.”
Nas is a partner in the Genting Resorts World bid for a state gaming license to offer live table games such as craps, blackjack and poker. The $5 billion proposal includes a concert hall and a sports academy involving Queens hoops legend Kenny “The Jet” Smith.
He visited state lawmakers in Albany last year to tout the proposals.
The approval comes after a proposal for a Times Square casino — backed by Nas’ one-time rival Jay-Z — was shot down by the state earlier this month.BACKGRID
A sign at the Music Box Theater protesting the Times Square casino proposal seen on Sept. 11, 2025.Matthew McDermott
Richards was one of six members of the state community advisory committee who voted unanimously for the Resorts World bid.
Jay-Z was a partner with Caesars and Sl Green Realty on the Times Square bid. Every bid for a casino in the borough of Manhattan was given the axe at the advisory board stage.
The MGM Empire City slots parlor at Yonkers Raceway also cleared a major hurdle Thursday as it seeks to offer live table games.
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The Yonkers bid was approved by its community advisory group in a unanimous 5-0 vote Thursday, just hours before the vote on the Queens gambling facility.
Both “racinos,” as they are called, have clear advantages in the bidding process.
MGM Empire City opened in 2006 and Genting Resorts World in 2011. They’ve built up good will with surrounding neighborhoods and have a track record of generating hundreds of millions of revenues for the state.
The Jay-Z backed Caesars Times Square bid had to start with a proposal scratch — and couldn’t overcome ferocious opposition from the Broadway League, which represents theaters and Manhattan West Side residents.
A rendering of the casino proposed by MGM Resorts in Yonkers.AP
The MGM Empire City bid was approved by a Yonkers community advisory board.AP
A member of the Yonkers siting board said it’s essential for MGM Yonkers slots parlor to be awarded the right to offer table games. Its existence will be threatened if the state gaming commission refuses to do so but approves another full-fledged casino nearby.
“Empire City casino will wither and die [without a table games license],” said James Cavanaugh, chairman of the Yonkers community advisory committee, and an appointee of Mayor Andrew Spano.
The statewide gaming facility location board will review bids approved by the community siting boards. The state Gaming Commission has final say and will approve up to three casino licenses by year’s end
The community boards will review three other bids next week — Bally’s in The Bronx at the site of the former golf course property run by President Trump’s firm at Ferry Point, The Coney in Coney Island and Mets owner Steven Cohen and Hard Rock’s proposal next to Citi Field.
