Resorts World casino will be New York City’s first to offer table games with live dealers beginning next week, the casino announced Tuesday.
It’s a milestone moment in the long journey to bring full casinos to downstate New York. The operators of the casino at Aqueduct Racetrack secured one of three licenses. The others went to a planned Hard Rock Casino next to Citi Field and another that will be built by Bally’s at Ferry Point in the Bronx. Both are expected to open around 2030.
But for now, Resorts World stands alone.
“New York City has never seen anything like what we’re planning for April 28,” said Robert DeSalvio, the president of Resorts World’s parent company Genting America East, said in a statement.
There’s a ribbon cutting scheduled for April 28, next Tuesday, that will include an appearance by the Queens hip-hop icon Nas.
Here’s a by-the-numbers look at this new chapter for the Queens casino:
That’ll include expanding the Hyatt Regency at the site to 2,000 rooms from 400, a 7,000-seat entertainment venue and more than 7,000 parking spaces.
Casino operators say the facility now employs 2,200 people and the workforce will grow to 2,700 by the summer.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.