The Times Square casino proposed by Caesars Entertainment, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and SL Green, New York City’s largest commercial landlord, would be a Caesars Palace - a name better associated with Las Vegas than the brightest stretch of Broadway. That’s not something that could happen to New York, is it? In other places, such as Biloxi, Detroit, and Philadelphia, the presence of one or more casinos signals a city scrambling for quick and easy funds, a city that has lost a sense of itself. “the Bowtie.” It’s already a locus of sensory overstimulation, integral to New York City’s brand, with the sort of buzz casinos are generally built to gin up. When I heard about the Times Square casino proposal, I was shocked that anyone would want to drop a casino at the exact spot where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue, a.k.a. Rendering of the proposed casino at 1515 Broadway.
