New York’s Oneida Indian Nation is expanding to meet competition to its Turning Stone resort from four upstate commercial casinos that will be opening over the next two years.
The $20 million project will include the conversion of its casino into a predominately non-smoking venue and the addition of new hotel rooms and an expanded food & beverage offering.
Tioga Downs, the first of four new non-Indian casinos, could be open before the end of the month, following the recent approval by regulators of statewide rules governing table games. Located west of Binghamton in what is known as the Southern Tier region, the racetrack and racino is expanding into a full casino.
Tioga Downs is about a two-hour drive from Turning Stone, which is in Vernon in Oneida County.
The other three casinos are Montreign Resort Casino in Sullivan County in the Catskills; Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady; and del Lago Resort & Casino in Seneca County in the Finger Lakes region.
The Turning Stone expansion will remake the 125,000-square-foot casino by creating a designated smoking section, known as Casino Blu, allowing the rest of the gaming floor to become non-smoking. The change is seen as another response to the new casinos, which, unlike Turning Stone, operate under state rules prohibiting smoking indoors.
The redesign, which will be undertaken in phases slated to for completion in early 2017, will coincide with the addition of six new fast -casual restaurants in an all-new Food Hall and new rooms in the Tower Hotel.
“This new project reflects that legacy?it shows our dedication to offering superior amenities and consistently evolving and elevating the guest experience at Turning Stone,” said Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and Nation Enterprises CEO.
