https://markets.businessinsider.com...-crypto-trading-floor-flying-car-2021-12

A plan for a $3 billion casino in New York's Manhattan includes a massive crypto-trading floor and a flying-car landing pad

Shalini Nagarajan

 Dec. 8, 2021, 07:32 AM

New York could see a casino with a crypto-trading floor and landing areas for emerging g eVTOL tech.

UE Resorts International

• A pitch for a casino in New York features a huge crypto-trading floor and a flying-car landing pad.

• UE Resorts and Jason Ader, formerly on Las Vegas Sands' board, plan to submit a proposal for the $3 billion project Friday.

• The chosen name for the prospective resort is "Mirai" — "future" in Japanese.

A Las Vegas-seasoned asset manager and a gaming giant are eyeing an addition to New York's famed Manhattan skyline — a multibillion-dollar casino with space for trading cryptocurrencies and a landing pad for flying cars.

UE Resorts International, a subsidiary of Japan-based gaming tech provider Universal Entertainment Corporation, in partnership with Jason Ader, a former Las Vegas Sands board member, expects to submit a pitch for the casino to the local gambling regulator by Friday, according to plans seen by Insider.

Their proposed crypto trading floor should be the biggest in the world, and the project includes an esports arena and a venue for events such as New York Fashion Week, the US Open, and Fleet Week.

"The goal is to have a differentiated, but comprehensive, approach to entertainment that goes beyond casino gaming with some pretty cool elements," Ader told Bloomberg in a recent interview.

The proposal to include a trading floor stirs echoes of the debate whether trading digital currencies is investing or gambling, given their high price volatility. Regulator Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chief, has likened the market to casinos in the Wild West.

Some members of the Reddit community reacted positively to the news, though others were less keen. "If you want to get crypto regulated into oblivion, put it on a casino floor," one Redditor said.

"Mirai," the chosen name for the casino, means "future" in Japanese. The cost estimate for the project is $3 billion or more — though that might change depending on its location, which has not been finalized.

While UE Resorts and Ader prefer the site to be located in Manhattan, local officials have previously opposed the idea of a casino in the area. Other sites being considered are Long Island and neighboring counties, according to Bloomberg.

Ader's blank-check company, 26 Capital Acquisition Corp, will merge with a Philippines-based casino resort owned by Universal.

UE Resorts plans to eventually list its shares on the Nasdaq. The proposed New York-based casino is expected to be the company's only development in the US.

What does this have to do with organized crime, other than the fact that corporations are every bit as evil?

The government allowing this is the biggest organized crime group in the world.

I think having it right square in Manhattan is a mistake. There's so much congestion to begin with that a huge casino would only serve to jam traffic and things up more. LI is better, Better yet would be Westchester or one of the other four outer NYC boroughs.

There's one small problem, gambling is illegal in N.Y.
Illegal Gambling
Promoting gambling is the central crime of New York Penal Law 225.00 et seq, the section of New York laws that criminalize gambling. Promoting gambling is either a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 1 year in prison and 3 years probation or a Class E felony with a maximum penalty of 4 years in prison and 5 years probation. The crime is committed when a person "knowingly advances or profits from unlawful gambling activity." A person commits promoting gambling in the first degree if they take 5 bets for the value of $5000.00. The statute identifies many different types of gambling activity. Some of the different kinds of criminalized activities are: acquiring paraphernalia for gambling, soliciting people to participate in gambling, or participating in any phase of a gambling operation. Participating means that the defendant has to do more than merely being in the gambling establishment.

As per the New York Constitution, all gambling activities are illegal except for those permitted by law. These include small games of dice on the corner, shell games in Times Square, and poker in the basement with friends.

A person advances gambling activity when, he behaves in a manner that materially advances gambling games. This includes allowing gambling to occur on one’s property or renting property to someone that means to use it as an underground casino. Picking up slips from a numbers location constitutes unlawful gambling activity as well. A person profits from gambling activity when, other than as a player, he "participates" in the proceeds of gambling activity pursuant to an agreement with another. The New York Constitution prohibits gambling, with the exception of State-run lotteries, betting on horse races, the establishment of up to seven casinos, certain bingo and lottery games to raise funds for charitable, religious, or not-for-profit organizations.

Criminalized conduct by New York’s gambling laws includes: Promoting gambling (such as bookmaking or running a lottery), Possessing gambling records (such as lotteries, bookmaking information or easily destructible forms of paper relating to gambling), Possessing a gambling device (such as slot machines or other gambling devices), Gaming fraud (including defrauding a casino or any other type of fraud in relation to a bet or wager), Using counterfeit or unlawful gaming instruments, Using or possessing unlawful gaming property (such as false or fraudulent gaming materials), manipulating gaming outcomes, and the manufacturing, selling or modifying of any equipment or devices in violation of gambling laws."

There also are several Indian casinos in New York that are regulated under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. These casinos are not regulated by New York law, instead they are regulated by federal law and therefore they are exempt from the strict regulation of the New York Constitution.

It has nothing to do with it.

There are already casinos in New York City, on is in Queens by a racetrack, another is planned to be built by Belmont Park, which borders NYC

LOL won't the flying car landing pad help alleviate some of the traffic problems ?

Sounds like a pipe dream to me. I gotta see that to believe that. LOL

I wish I had a dime for every casino that has been proposed in New York State--and that was never built. They were all going to be the salvation of every failing municipality and neighborhood in the state.

Communities either don't want them or are split on it. The one at Belmont Racetrack has been fought over for a few years now with the community split. When the big money keeps coming in form special interest groups, the community gets screwed and the casinos will get built. Just my take on what will happen. I hope it doesn't.

It’s not an if , it’s a when. They have 2 licenses for bid and they want competition for them. Right now it looks like that going to happen sometime in 2023.

There’s already 5 casinos in NY state

I'm pretty sure NYS constituents, legislature and governor all have a say in whether gambling is legalized or not.

The legalization of gambling won't keep organized crime from making bank on illegal gambling, there will always be some form of illegal gambling. It was just in 2007 that a $2 billion dollar Lucchese-run illegal gambling ring was busted, and in Italy officials said that the mob over there actually made even more money after it was legalized. Cigarettes are legal, yet there are still lots of money to be made from the trade of untaxed cigarettes. Organized crime will always exist, legalization won't change that fact.