Empire Resorts to close slots at Monticello Raceway

Posted 1/22/19

Empire Resorts, which owns the horse racing and slots operation at Monticello Casino and Raceway as well as the new Resorts World Catskills, has revealed that it will close down the slot machine …

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Empire Resorts to close slots at Monticello Raceway

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Empire Resorts, which owns the horse racing and slots operation at Monticello Casino and Raceway as well as the new Resorts World Catskills, has revealed that it will close down the slot machine operation at the Raceway on or before April 23.  The horse racing operation, however, will remain open, at least for now.

The purpose of the closure is to prevent the Raceway from cannabalizing the slot and gaming table activity at Resorts World a few miles down the road.  The Raceway has been losing millions of dollars per year for more than a decade, and Resorts World has also been losing millions every month since opening nearly a year ago.

In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing the company wrote, "On January 22, 2019, management of the Company and Monticello Raceway Management, Inc. (“MRMI”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, notified employees of MRMI concerning the Company’s plans to cease video gaming machine operations and food and beverage service at Monticello Casino and Raceway. The Company anticipates operations to cease on or about April 23, 2019."

The move comes about a week after Emanuel Pearlman, chair of the Empire Resorts board, sold about  2,000 shares of the stock on Jan.15, according to the Fairfield Current.  Pearlman owns stock totalling about $1.5 million according to a recent report in that paper. The sale was filed with the SEC.

According to a published report, after the closure of the slots operation some 40 employees will remain at the Raceway to handle the racing operation.

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