Empire Resorts

Empire Resorts is a company that owns the Monticello Raceway racino in the Catskill Mountains 90 miles (140 km) from New York City. Headquartered in Monticello, New York, Empire Resorts is 88.7% owned by Kien Huat Realty Sdn Bhd of Genting Group.

Empire Resorts is currently developing the five-star Montreign Casino at Adelaar, a $1.5 billion USD 1700 acre resort currently under construction on the site of the former Concord Resort Hotel in New York State’s Catskill Mountains.

Empire Resorts was founded in 2003 through a Consolidation (business) of Alpha Hospitality and Catskill Development LLC, a company that had purchased the Monticello Raceway in 1996. The consolidation was carried out by Robert A. Berman who in the previous year had been offered control as CEO of Alpha Hospitality by Stanley Tollman.

In 2003 Robert A. Berman restructured Alpha Hospitality after principal shareholders from the Bryanston Group (Alpha Hopitality’s controlling shareholder) were indicted by US attorney James Comey in the southern district of New York on tax-related charges. Berman restored financial stability by selling off non-essential gaming assets and merging the company with Catskill Development LLC, which led to the creation of Empire Resorts that same year. During this time Berman also arranged for Empire Resorts to sell common stock through Jefferies Group. This resulted in Empire Resorts receiving over $35 million (USD) in new funding.