As a state lawmaker, Zohran Mamdani generally opposed plans to open full-scale casinos in New York City. In June, when he walked past a billboard showing betting markets for the city mayor’s race, he even quipped that “gambling is haram,” an Arabic word meaning forbidden.
But on Wednesday, Mr. Mamdani said that he did not intend to use his newfound political clout as the Democratic mayoral nominee and the race’s front-runner to try to stop the arrival of casinos that are widely considered a fait accompli.
Speaking alongside the leader of a union pushing the gambling expansion, Mr. Mamdani told reporters that while he still had doubts about the casinos backed by corporate giants, he respected the views of state voters who had approved the downstate gambling expansion more than a decade ago.
