Casinos Real Money News

After a whopping 15 years in operation, the video-lottery terminals (VLTs) at the Monticello Casino & Raceway will finally be shut down by Empire Resorts next Tuesday. The announcement of the April 23 date for the shutdown of the casino operations was first announced in January through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The shutdown of the slots-like operations at the facility comes just a little over a year since the opening of the nearby Resorts World Catskills which is also owned and operated by Empire Resorts. The Resorts World Catskills facility is located just six miles away from the Monticello racetrack. This was certainly bound to result in some problems.

Low Revenues and Losses

The slot-like machines at the Monticello Casino & Raceway facility have not seen a lot of action for an extended period of time, a situation that, in very many ways, justifies its closure. While the 1,100 video-lottery terminals that were once great selling points for Monticello Raceway, it goes without saying that the gaming market has evolved immensely. Now, it would be almost impossible for the video-lottery terminals to compete with the full range of gambling options that customers are offered at Resorts World Catskill. Therefore, Empire Resorts reportedly chose to close the operations in order to focus on the Resorts World Catskills.

“There is not enough business that remains at that VLT facility to justify the cost of operating it,” Empire Resorts CEO Ryan Eller said. “Relocating our Monticello Casino and Raceway video gaming machines (“VGMs”) to Orange County could help us achieve this goal, while simultaneously creating new jobs and increase revenue to New York State education. We are looking forward to continuing productive dialogue with New York State, Orange County, and Sullivan County elected officials and stakeholders.”

What Next?

One of Empire Resorts’ main goals now is to focus on avoiding the cannibalization of revenues from over 2,100 slot machines as well as 150 table games at the Resorts World property. There are, however, concerns about what will happen to the VLT machines with some rumors claiming that they will be moved to a different location – a fight may be looming with regards to where exactly the VLTs will be going.

As it stands, a piece of legislation in the New York State Assembly seeks to allow the Catskill Off-Track Betting Corp. to take over the VLT machines and spread them out across the region. This has not gone so well with Empire Resorts that has instead proposed to build a new VLT location that will be able to host all of the 1,100 VLT machines.