The Empire City Casino in New York state is looking for a deep-pocketed partner to help it fend off competition from a newer, flashier rival.
On Wednesday, the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway issued a statement saying it had enlisted J.P. Morgan Securities to help explore “alternatives, including strategic partnerships” to ensure its future survival in the increasingly cutthroat world that is New York casino gambling.
Empire City became part of the Yonkers Raceway in 2006, and underwent a $50m expansion in 2013 that added 66k-square-feet of amenities to the property, including new restaurants and an expanded gaming floor that now encompasses over 5k slots and electronic table games.
Empire City is one of only two casinos – along with Genting’s Resorts World New York – allowed to operate within spitting distance of New York City. But March 2018 will see the opening of the new $1.2b Resorts World Catskills (a different Genting property) in the town of Thompson in Sullivan County, and Empire City is clearly scanning the horizon with a degree of trepidation.
Empire City CEO Timothy Rooney said his nearly 100-acre property’s “prime location and outstanding accessibility will serve as a unique platform to create one of the world’s leading gaming, hospitality, and entertainment venues.”
The Rooney family doesn’t appear to be putting any preconditions on what type of changes a potential partner might have in mind for Empire City. But with the new Catskills property offering its guests an indoor waterpark, a golf course, a 2k-seat live entertainment venue as well as the chance to drive high-performance race cars on a private motor sports track, it’s clear some thinking outside the box is likely in order.
Resorts World Catskills is currently taking delivery of its new slot machines and the property will be hosting a press tour on Monday to show off their bells and whistles. Once complete, the gaming floor will include 2,150 slots, over 100 gaming tables, a poker room and private gaming salons.
NEW CASINOS CONTINUE TO UNDERWHELM
The Catskills casino will be the newest commercial casino authorized by the state under legislation passed in 2015. So far, the first three new casinos have been most notable for dramatically underperforming in terms of revenue relative to their supporters’ overenthusiastic projections.
According to official state figures for the fiscal year that began in April, the Rivers Casino in Schenectady earned gross gaming revenue of $11.1m in October, around $100k less than it earned in April. The del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo earned $12.5m in October, down from $13.5m in April, and the expanded Tioga Downs Casino earned $5.4m, down from $5.9m in April.
Casino supporters continue to insist that the properties are still finding their feet and that things will eventually pick up. But critics who warned of regional casino saturation are clearly enjoying their ‘I told you so’ moment. Which makes you wonder if the Rooney family is looking to give Empire City a facelift, or themselves an exit.
