Empire Resorts is a gaming company that owns and operates

Resorts World Catskills Resorts World Catskills is a hotel and casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some ...

and

Monticello Raceway Monticello Gaming and Raceway is a harness racing track and racino in Monticello, Sullivan County, New York. It is off Exit 104 of Route 17 (future Interstate 86), on New York State Route 17B. The racetrack is nicknamed "The Mighty M" and races ...

in the

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

, from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Headquartered in

Monticello, New York Monticello ( ) is a village located in Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. The population was 7,173 at the 2020 census. It is the seat for the Town of Thompson and the county seat of Sullivan Count ...

, Empire Resorts is owned by affiliates of the

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

(with a 51% stake held by Kien Huat Realy and 49% by

Genting Malaysia Genting Malaysia Berhad () started in 1980 in Malaysia. In 1989, Genting Group and Resorts World Bhd underwent a restructuring exercise, which resulted in Resorts World Bhd acquiring from Genting Group of its entire gaming, hotel and resort-relat ...

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 Robert A. Berman (born December 8, 1959) is an American businessman known for his contributions to the casino industry in the US. He has owned and directed several prominent organizations and companies including Empire Resorts and Monticello Rac ...

, who in the previous year had been offered control as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

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 a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

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 br ...

. 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 Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

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 Conc ...

from

Louis R. Cappelli Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

. 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 EPR Properties, formerly Entertainment Properties Trust, is a real estate investment trust based in Kansas City, Missouri, that invests in amusement parks, movie theaters, ski resorts, and other entertainment properties. It owns 353 properties as ...

within the

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

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, multiple hotel properties,

waterpark A water park (or waterpark, water world) 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, swimming, and other baref ...

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, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisure ...

and

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

conglomerate founded by

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n entrepreneur

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

. Kien Huat, which had previously financed the startup of

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

and the

Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel is a casino in Niagara Falls, New York. It was built by the Seneca Nation to compete with Casino Niagara and Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Formerly known as the Niagara Falls Convention an ...

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

, was fronted by CEO

Lim Kok Thay Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay (; born 16 August 1951) is a Malaysian Chinese billionaire businessman. He is the chairman of Genting Group, a casinos, resorts and palm oil conglomerate with a market capitalization of almost MYR40 billion, and the secon ...

(

's son). In 2010 the

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

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

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 locate ...

. 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 owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...

in the

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de J ...

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 * Playin ...

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

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External links

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