New York: Resorts World to open casino inside Newburgh Mall in early 2022

The construction for the Resorts World video lottery casino planned for the Newburgh Mall could start this summer in Orange County, New York state. It could take 6 to 12 months, depending on whether pandemic-related shortages of building materials caused delays. The operator said Friday it plans to open the casino in the first three months of 2022.

The company's plans to build a casino inside the Newburgh Mall have raced to approval, clearing the way for a renovation of nearly a quarter of the mall that could be done by early next year.

Resorts World, which also operates the $1 billion casino resort that opened near Monticello in 2018, has said Newburgh casino will employ up to 225 people and be open 20 hours a day.

The town of Newburgh Planning Board approved plans for the gambling hall with 1,300 electronic games on Thursday night. The Town Board had enacted a zoning change for the project a week earlier, granting the only other local approval that the casino operator needed, according to  Times Herald-Record.

The company has agreed to pay the town of Newburgh $3 million a year in host benefits, largely to offset additional policing costs or other expenses caused by the casino.

Meghan Taylor, a vice president of government affairs and public relations for Resorts World, thanked the town board and local community for supporting the project in a statement on Friday.

"We look forward to breaking ground soon and delivering on our commitment to create good-paying union jobs for local residents, help revitalize the Newburgh Mall, serve as an economic engine in the Hudson Valley, and begin generating revenue for New York State’s public schools,” Taylor said.

Resorts World has projected the slot-like devices at its Newburgh casino will generate t $160 million in gross gaming revenue, part of which goes to the state to spend on education.

The Newburgh project stems from a deal added to the 2019 state budget that allowed Resorts World to move to Orange County the video lottery terminals formerly operated at Monticello Raceway.

Under the deal, Newburgh also stands to collect roughly $780,000 a year in state aid as the host of the video lottery terminals, in addition to the payments it will get from Resorts World. Orange County will get about $450,000 a year.

In addition, the deal obliged New York to continue paying about $1.2 million a year in aid to the town of Thompson, the village of Monticello, and Sullivan County for the terminals previously housed at the raceway.