Another casino has opened in upstate New York. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined other state officials and local leaders Wednesday at the new Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady.
The Las Vegas-style casino is one of four that was authorized by regulators after voters approved an amendment to New York's constitution expanding gambling.
The del Lago Resort & Casino in the town of Tyre in the Finger Lakes region opened last week. Tioga Downs in the Southern Tier converted into a slots and table-games casino in December, and the Montreign Resort Casino in the Catskills is due to open in a little over a year.
The casinos are entering a crowded regional gambling market, with competition opening in Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and elsewhere.
Within two hours of its highly anticipated opening, nearly 3,500 people had streamed onto the gaming floor of Rivers Casino and Resort.
Long before that, the first of hundreds of people lined up outside the valet entrance eager to see the $330 million gambling hall on the old Alco site with its 66 table games and 1,150 slot machines on a 50,000-square-foot gambling floor with a steakhouse and a restaurant lounge.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo headlined a host of local, county and state officials, including executives from Rush Street Gaming of Chicago and Rotterdam-based Galesi Group, during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Galesi and Rush Street, the casino operator, partnered on the $480 million residential-retail project on 60 acres that includes a marina, two hotels, condos, apartments and retail and office space for tech firms.
Source: GMB
