New York's Upstate Casinos Must Brace for Impact from Three New Rivals – Eventually
In a statewide referendum in November 2013, New York voters approved a ballot measure by a 57% to 43% margin to allow for up to seven commercial casinos to be authorized in the state.
But in a twist forged through a compromise by lawmakers, the first four "upstate" casinos - two in the Catskills, one in the Southern Tier, and one near Albany - would be granted about a 10-year "head start" over the three licenses eventually to be approved in the greater New York City area. The upstate areas were deemed to be financially impoverished, which is why there was a delay in the New York City area licenses being issued.
The first of those casinos - an upgrade from an existing racetrack "racino" - opened in December 2016 as the Tioga Downs Casino Resort in Nichols, N.Y. The del Lago Resort & Casino in Tyre followed three months later, a week before Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady welcomed its first gamblers. The final upstate casino - Resorts World Catskills in Monticello - launched in February 2018.
Three new casino projects on the horizon
In December 2025, the New York State Gaming Commission approved the three latter licenses: One is an upgrade of Aqueduct Racetrack from a slots-only "racino" to a full-fledged casino.
Another project, also in Queens, adjacent to the New York Mets' CitiField baseball stadium, is in a partnership of Mets owner Steve Cohen and the Hard Rock casino brand.
And third in the works is a casino in The Bronx, on land that once was part of a Trump Organization-managed golf course at Ferry Point in the Throggs Neck Bridge area.
The first phase of the Aqueduct project is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026, with final completion slated for 2030. That's the same year that the other two casinos - which are being built from scratch - are scheduled to begin greeting gamblers.
The delay in partial and full launches of the upcoming New York City casinos means the Upstate New York casinos will have even more than a decade's-long head start.
Schenectady leads the Upstate Casino revenue competition
Right from the start, Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady has led its three rivals in monthly gross gaming revenue. In October 2025, Rivers produced $17.7 million in revenue - the vast majority of which came from slot machine play.
Resorts World Catskills - the closest site to New York City and potentially the most vulnerable by 2030 - took in $14.2 million to slip to third place compared to October 2024. Del Lago Casino & Resort moved up to runner-up for that 2025 month at $14.4 million. Tioga Downs - located in the most sparsely populated of the four regions - produced $9.6 million in revenue in October.
Upstate Casinos Revenue October 2025
| New York Casino Property | October 2025 Revenue |
| Rivers Casino & Resort | $17.5 million |
| Del Lago Casino & Resort | $14.4 million |
| Resorts World Catskills | $14.2 million |
| Tioga Downs | $9.6 million |
The Resorts World sister property in South Ozone Park in Queens vies on a monthly basis to try to lead all gambling properties in monthly tax revenue. That's in spite of almost all of the revenue coming from its 5,000 slot machines. The addition of table games such as roulette, craps, and baccarat in the coming years should cement the Aqueduct site as the national casino gaming revenue leader.
How Aqueduct expansion might affect upstate casinos
What's less clear is to what extent the Aqueduct expansion will impact the upstate casinos - particularly in the Catskills location which is about 120 miles to the north and west. An April 2025 report by Capacity Consulting concluded that the opening of three casinos in New York City could cause an annual decline in revenue at the Catskills site of more than 70%.
Much of that is because many residents of New York City's five boroughs – not content to settle for pushing buttons on slot machines — take casino-funded bus roundtrips to the Catskills to enjoy full-fledged casino options.
New York regulators tax slot machine revenue at 30%, with fourth-fifths of that figure allocated to education funding and property tax relief. The remaining 20% of tax revenue is split by the host municipality, the host county, and the non-host counties within the region.
Early upstate casino revenue fell short
Upstate casino projections were too rosy.
All four Upstate casinos failed to meet their initial revenue projections in their first year of operation. And by 2022, only Tioga Downs was able to achieve that initial estimate - in part because it had the most modest projections.
The other three locations only had reached 50% to 60% of the overly-optimistic revenue estimates after four years. A closure of the casinos for more than six months in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant contributor to disappointing revenue numbers at the time, but even in the years past the pandemic, the casinos have not been able to match the estimates.
Annual revenue estimates also may not sufficiently have taken into account the impact of eight long-established tribal casinos across Upstate New York - the majority of which have been in operation for more than a decade. While the commercial casinos provide a greater tax revenue impact for the state budget, gamblers who are used to visiting their local tribal casinos are not likely to be aware of the difference, since both types of casinos are legal and offer most of the same gaming options.
The new New York casino projects are investing billions of dollars
Of the three just-approved New York City casinos, the most ambitious is the $8.1 billion Metropolitan Park project adjacent to the Mets' baseball stadium. The 50-acre sports and entertainment complex is scheduled to feature a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, more than two dozen acres of parkland, a 5,650-seat live music venue, and upgrades to the 7-line subway station.
Meanwhile, the $4 billion casino and entertainment complex at Ferry Point Park in The Bronx is to include a 500-room hotel, a 2,000-seat event center, and more than $600 million in community investments. The project developer is Bally's, a casino operator that has had financial struggles in 2025 with building out a planned casino in Chicago.
Finally, while much of the infrastructure already is in place at Aqueduct Racetrack, Resorts World has a $5.5 billion upgrade plan that is scheduled to include 2,000 hotel rooms, a 7,000-seat area, more than 800 gaming tables, and more than two dozen restaurants.
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