ATLANTIC City, N.J., Hard Rock is planning to build a casino near New York City. It also plans to build another in northern New Jersey.

Jim Allen, chairman of the global entertainment, gambling and hospitality company that is owned by the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida, stated Tuesday that Hard Rock would submit an expression to New York officials by Dec. 10.

New York City has three remaining casino licenses that will be issued in the downstate region, which includes New York City. This region has been long considered the holy grail of the casino industry due to its wealth and population.

Allen spoke at the East Coast Gaming Congress Atlantic City and stated that Hard Rock has been working on a New York project since seven years ago when the possibility was first announced.

Allen stated that they are not abandoning the 2015 plan to build a casino resort at Meadowlands Racetrack, just outside New York City.

He said, "We are interested in both markets and, if God allows us to operate in both of them, we would be delighted to do so."

To build in the Meadowlands, Hard Rock would require permission from New Jersey voters. A plan to allow casinos in New Jersey outside of Atlantic City was rejected by them in 2016.

Allen, whose company spent half-billion dollars in Atlantic City to open Hard Rock Casino in 2018, stated that the New York and northern New Jersey markets can support multiple casinos.

He asked, "How many casinos are you currently lining up right here?" Atlantic City has nine. "One hundred percent. The market is big enough."

The New York State Gaming Commission published a call last week for expressions of interest regarding the remaining three casino licenses. Other notable casino companies such as Caesars Entertainment and Bally's Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands have also expressed interest.

Four commercial casinos are located in New York's upstate, which is part of seven non-tribal casinos approved by voters in 2013.

David Schwartz, a University of Las Vegas Nevada gambling historian, said that it is possible for a market as strong as New York City to support two properties.

Jeff Gural, the Meadowlands Racetrack owner, and two upstate New York casino racetracks, said that he and Allen had not discussed whether Gural would partner with Hard Rock for a New York project or how such a development might impact their partnership in New Jersey.

Ralph Caputo is a Democratic New Jersey State Assemblyman from northern New Jersey. He said that he doesn't believe two Hard Rock projects can succeed so closely together. He also pointed out that the phenomenal financial performance of Meadowlands Racetrack, New Jersey's leading sports betting market, proves that northern New Jersey gambling advocates were correct.

Half of New Jersey's sports betting revenue comes from the Meadowlands. New Jersey was the first state in America to receive more than $1 million worth of sports betting revenue in September.

Caputo stated, "All the disposable income has gone up here." "We knew exactly what we were talking."