Resorts World opens as first casino to offer live table games in NYC
Photo courtesy of Gee
New York City’s first full casino has arrived. After many years and a competition for downstate gaming licenses, Resorts World New York City opened in Queens on Tuesday as the first casino in the five boroughs to offer live table games. Located next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in Jamaica, the existing gambling facility, which opened in 2011, has expanded into a full-scale casino, transforming its third floor with more than 240 table games and thousands of slot machines, with more to come later this year. The casino also led a hiring and training effort that created 1,250 new jobs, including 950 table-game dealers, ahead of its launch following final testing by the New York State Gaming Commission.
“Once the Gaming Commission’s final testing is complete, live table games will be open and operating right here in Queens for the first time in the history of NYC. We are ready to welcome New Yorkers to this exciting new experience,” Robert DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, which operates Resorts World, said.
“Resorts World now employs over 2,200 team members and have already doubled our workforce and expect thousands more as the integrated resort is developed over the next three years,” he added.
The workforce is also supported by Resorts World’s Introduction to Gaming workforce development program, which began in 2022 and has helped train more than 350 local residents in gaming operations. In addition, the casino’s World Dealer School has trained and hired more than 400 local residents, with another 500 graduates expected by May.
As 6sqft previously reported, the $5 billion expansion plan for Resorts World called for 6,000 slot machines, 800 gaming tables, a new hotel with 2,000 hotel rooms, 7,000 parking spaces, and 12 acres of new public green space.
The 5.6 million-square-foot proposal also included a 7,000-seat concert venue and an “innovation campus” featuring a sports academy for high school athletes led by Queens native and former professional basketball player and broadcaster Kenny “The Jet” Smith.
Beyond the casino site, Resorts World has also proposed a $2 billion community benefits package, including a commitment to build up to 50,000 units of workforce housing across the city, as well as a $100 million infrastructure improvement package.
The launch of live gaming at the casino is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority through its $500 million license fee, as well as additional tax revenue. Additional funds will also be directed to the state’s public education system, to which Resorts World has already contributed $5 billion since launching in 2011.
Tuesday’s grand opening was attended by a mix of elected officials, as well as hip-hop artist Nas, who has publicly backed the project.
Resorts World NYC was one of three downstate casino proposals awarded a license in December, following a lengthy and contentious approval process that saw several high-profile bids from some of the city’s most influential developers rise and fall.
The other winning bids include New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s Metropolitan Park proposal, the largest of the three projects, and Bally’s Bronx Casino at the former Trump-owned Ferry Point Park in Throggs Neck. That project advanced after surviving a City Council vote last July that initially rejected a key rezoning needed for approval.
Other rejected or abandoned casino proposals included the Bjarke Ingels’ Freedom Plaza near the U.N., “The Avenir” across from the Javits Center, a proposal in Coney Island called “The Coney,” and MGM Empire City in Yonkers.
While Resorts World was an existing facility, both Metropolitan Park and Bally’s Bronx are entirely new projects that will require construction from the ground up. Both casinos are expected to open in 2030.
All winning projects will be held accountable for commitments made during the application process through oversight by a third-party monitor.
“I have stood with Resorts World through every step of this process because I believed in the vision and I believed in their promise to Queens, given their 15-year record of delivering,” Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., chairman of the State Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, said.
“Today, that promise is fulfilled. The jobs are here, the investment is here, and the positive impact on our community starts with the first hand dealt and the first roll of dice.”
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