Of the four commercial upstate casinos, it’s the closest to the New York City market at about a two hour drive and New Jersey voters did not approve a casino in the Meadowlands in North Jersey, which would have added even more competition.Īrrangements have been made to fly gamblers to the casino. There are a lot of circumstances in their favor. Resorts World Catskills is going to need to not only draw patrons from its local and regional competitors, but will have to grow the market overall. The biggest challenge to success is a saturated casino market in upstate New York and competing for customers with other large, established competitors in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The hope is that by operating an all season destination resort around a commercial casino, it will breathe new life into this historic tourist region, which is now economically depressed. The region was once a thriving tourist area that had more than 500 hotels and bungalow colonies, most of which are long gone now. The 1.6 million-square-foot resort sits on property that was once home to the Concord Hotel, a prominent hotel in the Borscht Belt-era of the Catskills.
Photograph Courtesy of Resorts World Catskills Some Catskills History
