Empire Resorts is a gaming company that owns and operates

Resorts World Catskills Resorts World Catskills is a hotel and casino located in Monticello, New York, Monticello, New York (state), New York. History It opened on February 8, 2018, and is owned and operated by Empire Resorts. It was built on the former site of the C ...

and

Monticello Raceway Monticello Raceway is a harness racing track and former casino in Monticello, New York. It is owned and operated by Empire Resorts. The racetrack is nicknamed "The Mighty M" and races standardbred horse races during the afternoons year-round. ...

in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

, from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Headquartered in

Monticello, New York Monticello ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village located in Thompson, New York, Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. It is the seat for the town of Thompson, and the county ...

, Empire Resorts is owned by affiliates of the

Genting Group The Genting Group is headquartered in Wisma Genting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Group comprises the holding company Genting Berhad (), its listed subsidiaries Genting Malaysia Berhad (), Genting Plantations Berhad (), Genting Singapore Plc () ...

(with a 51% stake held by Kien Huat Realty and 49% by Genting Malaysia).

History

Empire Resorts was founded in 2003 through a consolidation of Alpha Hospitality and Catskill Development LLC, a company that had purchased the

in 1996. The consolidation was carried out by Robert A. Berman, who in the previous year had been offered control as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Alpha Hospitality by Stanley Tollman. In 2003, Berman restructured Alpha Hospitality after principal

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s of the Bryanston Group (Alpha Hopitality's controlling shareholder) were indicted on tax-related charges. Berman restored financial stability by selling off non-essential gaming assets and merging the company with Catskill Development LLC, which led to the creation of Empire Resorts that same year. During this time Berman also arranged for Empire Resorts to sell common stock through

Jefferies Group Jefferies Group LLC is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. The firm provides clients with capital markets and financial advisory services, institutional b ...

. This resulted in Empire Resorts receiving over $35 million in new funding. In 2003 Empire Resorts became a

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

Global Market company, trading under the ticker symbol "NYNY." In 2004 Empire Resorts entered into an agreement to purchase the

Concord Resort Hotel The Concord Resort Hotel (pronounced KAHN-cord, ()) was a resort in the Borscht Belt of the Catskills, known for its large resort industry in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Located in Kiamesha Lake, New York (state), New York, United States, the Co ...

from

Louis R. Cappelli Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

. The transaction was later modified by Kien Huat Realty, which gave way to the $1.5 billion resort project currently financed and under construction by Empire Resorts. The project is located on the site of Adelaar, a resort developed by Entertainment Properties Trust within the

. The entertainment complex will include an 80,000 sq. ft.

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, multiple hotel properties,

waterpark A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimmin ...

s, and a retail village, dining and entertainment areas. The project is expected to be concluded by 2018. In 2009, Kien Huat Realty invested a further $55 million in new equity capital, which represented just below 50% of the voting power of Empire Resorts. Kien Huat is an investment branch of the

, a large

leisure Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, Employment, work, job hunting, Housekeeping, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as ...

and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

conglomerate founded by

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n entrepreneur

Lim Goh Tong Lim Goh Tong (; 28 February 1918 – 23 October 2007) was a prominent wealthy Malaysian Chinese entrepreneur. He was the founder of Genting Highlands and renowned for transforming the resort from an unexplored hilltop into one of the world's mo ...

. Kien Huat, which had previously financed the startup of

Foxwoods Resort Casino Foxwoods Resort Casino is an integrated resort owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their Indian reservation, reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casino ...

and the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, was fronted by CEO Lim Kok Thay (

's son). In 2010 the

won a bid to build a racino similar to what it owned in

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

Aqueduct Racetrack Aqueduct Racetrack is a Thoroughbred horse racing facility and casino in the South Ozone Park, Queens, South Ozone Park and Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, United States. Aqueduct is the only racetrack within ...

. In December 2015, Empire Resorts received a full gaming license for Montreign Resort Casino in

. In February 2016, Kien Huat Realty purchased $290 million worth of shares, giving the firm 88.7% ownership of Empire Resorts. Empire Resorts currently owns and manages several

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

in the

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship of a host towards a guest, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill and welcome. This includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, ...

and

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

industries. The company owns and operates

and

through its subsidiary, Monticello Raceway Management, Inc. The 230-acre (93 ha) property is located approximately 90 miles northwest of

. The complex offers over 1,110 VGMs, with over 40 electronic table game positions, over 1,000 video lottery terminal slot machines, electronic table games, and one of the largest all-weather harness horse racing tracks in the nation. On January 23, 2019, Empire announced that it would close Monticello Casino's VGM operations “on or about April 23,” 2019. Empire CEO Ryan Eller said the closure was intended to “improve revenue performance at our nearby Resorts World Catskills property.” Monticello's racing operations will remain open. In November 2019, Kien Huat Realty and Genting Malaysia took Empire Resorts private, buying all outstanding shares. The transaction left Kien Huat with a 51% stake in the company and Genting Malaysia with 49%.

References

{{reflist

External links

Empire ResortsWinbox88 Online Casino
Gambling companies established in 2003 Catskills Gambling companies of the United States Companies based in New York (state)