Resorts World Catskills, the largest of New York’s new Las Vegas-style commercial casinos, and the closest to New York City, will open its doors on February 8.
Located at the site of the former Concord Hotel in the heart of the old “Borscht Belt,” the $920 million property is set to open on February 8 with a 332-room all-suite hotel, 10 bars and restaurants, a spa and a 2,500-seat events center.
The 100,000-square-foot casino will be the largest full-scale gaming venue in the state, with 2,150 slot machines and 150 live table games, including poker.
The property will provide an estimated 1,400 jobs.
“We look forward to driving tourism to the Catskills, stimulating the economy and making meaningful contributions that help put the Catskills back on the map as a premier getaway and true destination,” said Charles A. Deglomini, executive vice president of Government Affairs & Communications for the property’s owner-operator, Empire Resorts.
The opening, a “soft” one of sorts (the official grand opening is scheduled for May), is timed to take advantage of the weeklong Chinese New Year festivities. This is in line with a marketing strategy that aims to focus on high-end Asian play, both domestic and international. It’s a specialty of the Genting Group, the Malaysia-based conglomerate that owns the Resorts World brand and ultimately controls the reins at Resorts World Catskills.
Genting, though an indirect subsidiary controlled by its Chairman and CEO Lim Kok Thay, holds a majority stake in publicly traded Empire, whose only other asset is the harness track and racino at nearby Monticello Raceway.
Genting’s holdings also include controlling shares in Resorts World-branded casinos in Singapore, Manila and the Bahamas, a casino group in Great Britain, and in the United States the country’s largest racino, Resorts World New York City, located at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
The company also is building an Asian-themed destination resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Asia-centric marketing, if successful, could prove one of the keys to differentiating Resorts World Catskills in an increasingly crowded New York gaming market packed with Indian casinos (seven currently), racetracks (12) and racinos (nine) and three other full-scale commercial casinos.
Its range of attractions will be another. Resorts World is sharing the location with a planned “entertainment village” comprising a $150 million indoor waterpark and all-suite hotel, restaurants and lounges and an 18-hole Rees Jones-designed golf course
