02.08.18 - Resorts World opening touted as ‘rebirth’ of Catskills
"The fourth, and by far the largest, full-scale casino opened Thursday on a site that had once been a jewel of the Borscht Belt. The $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills is composed of a 1.6 million-square-foot resort complex that had once been the site of the Concord Hotel. "This is the rebirth of the Catskills," Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the opening. "I'm tired of people talking about the glory days of the Catskills and the Borscht Belt in the past tense.""
""They could have put these four casinos anywhere, but New York state showed its heart and not its greed, when it handed out these licenses," said state Sen. John Bonacic (R-Mount Hope), chair of the Senate's Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, whose district includes the casino. "Sullivan County needed it the most." Casinos' economic benefit was one of the major selling points of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign to pass the 2013 constitutional amendment permitting these facilities. "Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember the thriving Catskills resorts," Cuomo said in a video message played at the event. "There were decades of disinvestment. We saw other states capitalizing at our expense." Resorts World expects to employ about 2,000 people once fully staffed."