Jay-Z Wants Times Square Casino, Better New York

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s purchase of Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC came out of the left field (at least, if you had no idea that Reynolds is a prolific investor, it did), but it’s hardly the weirdest thing a celebrity has thrown money at.

Justin Timberlake still has a hand in Myspace, for instance, while former basketball player Shaq has a portfolio that includes Krispy Kreme, Papa John, and Five Guys franchises.

Whether it’s all for the love of the game (or pizza) is up for debate, but there’s no denying the fact that celebrities like to buy their way into the world of boardrooms and high-rise offices.

Jay-Z: The American Entrepreneur

Rapper Jay-Z, who is currently worth around $2.5bn, is cut from the same sheet of cloth as Shaq and co. The 140m-selling artist has a huge stake in taxi firm Uber (reportedly around $70m), in addition to a $50 real-estate portfolio with his wife Beyonce.

However, Jay-Z seems to be trying to up the ante in the most literal way possible, by opening a casino in New York – more specifically, in the heart of American capitalism known as Times Square.

It’s not quite as difficult to justify Jay-Z’s interest in a casino as it is Reynolds and McElhenney’s passion for a small-time soccer club. After all, the casino industry has shown unprecedented growth around the globe, according to statistics.

Rapid Growth in the Casino Industry

Until recently, online gambling has been concentrated in and around Europe and Asia. In the UK, for instance, the casino and betting market was valued at £15.3bn in 2022, inclusive of online and offline wagering.

The market in this one region is saturated with countless casino brands because NZ casinos have an advantage over European operators: they can be licensed anywhere in the world, rather than just on Kiwi soil. In addition, the demand is so high.

Players are attracted to the convenience and innovation of games offered by providers that are safe and regulated. But how do they know a site is in fact trustworthy when the market is flooded with millions of options?

This is where online directories, forums, and review sites like CasinoBee come in. CasinoBee offers insights on a wide selection of 60+ secure and licensed NZ casinos, highlighting important considerations such as average customer reviews, promotions, offers, and comparison banners. In contrast, the United States and, in particular, New York, has been slow to come around to the idea of gambling of any description.

While the rest of the world has been steadily going from strength to strength with its online casino offerings, the USA has been playing ‘catch up’. To put it into context, the Big Apple recently became the 18th state to legalize sports betting, but online casino gambling is still unavailable.

Roc Nation’s Business Ventures

New York began accepting applications for three new brick-and-mortar casinos at the beginning of 2023. This is where Jay-Z comes in. The rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has begged New York to accept his proposal for a Times Square Casino.

Oddly enough, Jay-Z’s casino won’t bear the name of his entertainment company Roc Nation. It’ll go by the moniker Caesars Palace Times Square after existing casino brand Caesars Entertainment. SL Green Realty Corp is on the bid too. Combined, the group is called the Coalition for a Better Times Square. 

Jay-Z’s consortium has promised an array of benefits for the local area, including daycare for theatre workers, investments in sanitation and security, and a general boost for the lives of New Yorkers. The official Coalition for a Better Times Square website lists additional benefits of 7m more tourist visits, a 50% reduction in traffic congestion, and an extra 8,900 jobs in the area. 

Whether it’ll all come to pass is still unknown – we’re almost a year on from New York’s approval of three new casino properties and little else has been revealed, so far.