Three of New York’s four commercial casinos have clocked lower gross gaming revenue in September 2023, than the same month last year. However, the non-tribal gaming properties are still in contention to match last year’s record-breaking revenue performance. For September this year, the four establishments reported just under US$59.6 million in pre-tax proceeds.
At the moment New York runs four commercial casinos and they are all located in the upstate region. The four properties are the Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo, and Resorts World Catskills in Sullivan County. The state will soon issue licenses for three more in the downstate New York.
Lower Than September 2022
According to the latest numbers by the New York State Gaming Commission, in September 2023, the four commercial casinos posted just below US$59.6 million in gross gaming revenue. The monthly numbers for the non-tribal gaming properties meant a 3.5% decrease from September 2022. Meanwhile, in 2023, the casinos have brought in US$514.6 million in GGR.
The year-to-date performance of the four licensed casinos is just 0.01% lower than the US$514.7 million posted for the same period last year. In total for 2022, they combined for more than US$690.5 million in gambling revenue. This means that despite the slightly lower volume in September 2023, the state could still match its last year’s impressive performance.
Resorts World Catskills led the way with nearly US$20 million in monthly gross gaming revenue and Rivers Casino in Schenectady generated approximately US$16.8 million. Meanwhile, del Lago Resort and Casino generated just over US $13.5 million, while Tioga Downs Casino was last in terms of gross proceeds managing to produce around US$9.2 million in revenue.
According to the NYSGC, the four licensed commercial casinos delivered around US$14.5 million in gaming taxes in September 2023. Since December 2016, the four gaming establishments have contributed more than US$984 million in gambling-related taxes to New York. These numbers will grow with the introduction of the downstate licenses.
In the Process of Awarding the Rest Three
In the meantime, the battle for the three downstate licenses is heating up, as there are plenty of candidates. Recently, Wells Fargo analyst Daniel Politzer said that Las Vegas Sands’ proposal is among the favourites. The company plans to launch an integrated casino resort at Nassau County in Long Island if it gets its hands on one of those full-casino permits.
Thor Equities, the Chickasaw Nation, Legends Hospitality and Saratoga Casino Holdings have teamed up and also after one of the licenses. Their bid is to launch ‘The Coney’ on Coney Island, a US$3 billion casino resort on the famous boardwalk. Their project was backed by collecting over 6,700 signatures from residents as of the end of August 2023.
