Broadways right Jay-Zs Times Square casino bid must fail

Broadway was singing a different showtune this week.Luck be a lady… somewhere else!Many of the theater’s powerful unions, landlords, trade organizations and ally businesses a-five-six-seven-hate Jay-Z, Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty’s bad, bad, bad bid to plop a casino in Times Square.In the very same building that’s home to family-friendly “The Lion King,” 1515 Broadway, blackjack beckons. One block away from “Hamilton,” drunk tourists losing all of their Benjamins.Broadway feels such intense loathing toward Beyonce’s husband’s plan for Caesars Palace Times Square that, like the hippies of “Hair,” the pros staged a rally Thursday by the red steps ahead of Friday’s deadline for proposals.They were practically singing “One Day More” out there.“This casino’s developers don’t care about improving this neighborhood,” Broadway League prez Jean Valjean, I mean, Jason Laks said.“A casino in the heart of Times Square would only set this area back.”Do you hear the people sing?Eight bids are competing for three gambling licenses around the metro area — from near the UN (just what foreign dignitaries need!) all the way up to Yonkers. Caesars’ is the splashiest.I’m not much of a protester.What do I want? A chair! When do I want it? Now! But I sit in solidarity with Broadway.

They’re dead right.The last thing the Crossroads of the World needs is poker tables, slot machines and the inevitable filth and riffraff that cling to them like saran wrap.The theater industry’s chief beef, however, is a financial one.“A casino can go anywhere,” Laks said.

“Broadway can only be here.”Show people insist that a shiny new gambling den would dangerously compete with their productions, which are only just getting back to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy. This past Broadway season had the highest attendance levels since 2019.  A casino would rain on their parade.  Gaming establishments are designed to keep cu...