Most casinos operators have started accepting crypto as a payment method, and some have even started offering NFTs as prizes to games like slot machines. Yet, the relationship between casinos and crypto just took another step, as former casino analyst Jason Ader has submitted a proposal to The New York State Gaming Commission for a land-based casino in New York with a crypto trading floor attached.
What Do We Know About The Proposed Casino?
Now, don’t get us wrong — there are dozens of casinos spread across the state of New York, and many have other amenities. For instance, Turning Stone Resort Casino also has a sportsplex and golf dome. Other New York casinos, which you can learn about in more detail here, have nightclubs and spas attached too, such as Del Lago. There are even racinos in New York, which are land-based casinos with a race track. However, none of these casinos compare to what Ader has proposed.
For starters, the former Las Vegas Sands board member doesn’t just plan on adding a crypto trading platform to his casino — he wants to make it the largest in the world. For those who don’t know, a crypto trading platform is an exchange platform that allows the interchange of one virtual currency for another. There are said to be many benefits of crypto trading, and you can read more about them here. At the moment, Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange in the US.
Ader also wants the New York casino to feature a landing pad for flying cars and an eSports arena that can be used for other events. These events include the likes of New York City Fashion Week and the US Open, which, as we covered here, saw 18-year-old Emma Raducanu become the first qualifier to win the tournament in 2021.
To host the US Open in a venue other than the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center would be a drastic change as, historically, this stadium complex has been the home of the US Open since 1978. To top it off, Ader’s planning on doing this all in the middle of busy Manhattan, an area of New York where local officials have opposed the idea of a casino in the past.
Ader submitted the proposal in collaboration with UE Resorts International on December 10th. For those who aren’t aware, it’s worth noting that UE Resorts International is a subsidiary of the Japan-based Universal Entertainment Corporation. The project is estimated to cost around $3 billion, and the two parties involved intend to call the casino Mirai, which is the Japanese word for the ‘future’. The name aligns with their goals: to create a new form of entertainment that goes beyond casino gaming.
Why Crypto and eSports?
Whether local officials in Manhattan eventually agree to the proposal or not, Ader is intelligent to try and combine the casino industry with crypto and eSports. After all, it’s no secret that these two sectors have grown exponentially in popularity over the last few years.
Even better, according to forecasts, future projections look equally as promising, if not more so, for crypto and eSports. For instance, according to this report, the global eSports market is expected to reach around $4.75 billion by 2030. Similarly, the global casino market is forecasted to reach nearly $160 billion by 2027.
Of course, New York is an ideal location for this casino, regardless of whether it’s finally constructed in Manhattan or Long Island. In the past, New York has established itself as a hub for the financial industries, and most recently, as we previously covered, one of the world’s top climate hubs. Adding an institution that combines casinos and crypto would only add to New York’s impressive resume.
Now What? We Wait
Even if the New York casino is approved and construction starts right away, we still won’t see the Mirai casino for a couple of years, at the very least. Fortunately, this could work out for the better. Why? Because it means the casino industry and the crypto sector have more time to get acquainted.
Project managers can resolve issues ahead of time, and new technological innovations may enter the market during this period. These new technologies could take the casino’s intended experience to new levels. Furthermore, it could give local officials more time to become more accustomed to the idea of having a casino in Manhattan.
A trend business professionals are predicting for the new year is, in fact, more collaboration between the casino industry, the crypto sector, and the eSports market. However, no one could have imagined a casino with a crypto trading platform attached. Then again, it was only a matter of time that someone proposed this. The world’s changing, and every day, there’s more industry integration.
