If early results are any indication, New York’s experiment in commercial casino gaming is off to a roaring start.
The new del Lago Resort & Casino, which opened in the popular Finger Lakes tourist region on February 1, booked $36.6 million in slot and table revenue in its first six days, not counting poker, according to a tally by the state Gaming Commission.
It works out to an average daily win of $252 per unit for the Seneca County venue’s 2,001 slot machines, a fairly robust performance for a regional casino. del Lago also has 77 house-banked table games.
“We have had a steady flow of excited guests since we opened our doors,” said General Manager Jeff Babinski.
The same appears to be true across the state in Schenectady, where the Rivers Casino & Resort opened on February 8 to long lines of customers before a snow storm rolled in to hammer the region.
“The first days of operation have been extremely successful, and we’re very pleased with feedback we’ve heard from our guests and the support shown by the community,” said Charles Wiff, a spokesman for the resort.
State and local governments are hoping it keeps up. The 2013 law that authorizes up to seven commercial casinos statewide imposes a tax rate of 37 percent on gross slot win and 10 percent from table games, with proceeds split between the state and the host counties and municipalities.
Officials are also looking to the expansion to provide jobs and boost local economies. The fact that both casinos have yet to fully ramp up their operations?hotels at both sites are slated to come on line this summer?bodes well in that regard. del Lago, for one, expects to gross $263 million in its first year.
Of the four casinos authorized under the law’s first phase, three are now open, including Tioga Downs Casino & Racing, which debuted in December as an expanded racino in the Southern Tier region bordering Pennsylvania. The fourth, the $1.2 billion, 332-room Montreign Resort Casino, is opening next year in the Catskills.
Montreign will bring the number of commercial and tribal casinos in state to 12. It also will be the closest full-scale casino hotel to the New York City metropolitan area. The four combined are expected to produce $325 million in annual tax revenues.
But the big prize, of course, is New York City. Barred from participating in the expansion until 2022, the metro area’s two slots-only racinos?Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway and Resorts World New York City at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens? generated around 70 percent of the state’s total gaming revenues in 2015.
