Sullivan County agreed to borrow $585 million to buy the non-gaming half of Resorts World Catskills, with the hotel, golf course, event venue and restaurants moving into a county-backed local development corporation while gaming operations remain with Empire Resorts under lease. The structure was also meant to refinance about $300 million in coming debt and fund upgrades to the property.
In August 2025, Empire Resorts reached an agreement with the county’s industrial development agency to transfer the non-gaming assets to the newly created Sullivan County Resort Facilities Local Development Corporation. County officials described the arrangement as a way to protect jobs and local tax revenue, and Jennifer Flad, the county IDA’s executive director, said the not-for-profit corporation was formed on the county’s behalf to keep developing the 1,700-acre Adelaar site.
An earlier CDC Gaming brief said Genting Malaysia had outlined a sale-and-leaseback plan for the 332-room hotel, the 99-room Alder Hotel, Monster Golf Course, the RWC Epicenter and restaurants for US$525 million, alongside a separate land purchase and a 20-year management agreement.
Since opening in February 2018, Resorts World Catskills has generated nearly 1,400 union jobs and more than $1 billion in net revenues, according to Mid Hudson News, but it has lost money in essentially every year and has gone back to Albany for tax relief more or less annually. Gamblingnews reported that State Gaming Commission records showed it made just under $198 million in gaming money in the 2024-25 fiscal year, its weakest showing since the pandemic years.
The casino exists because of the 2013 constitutional amendment that authorised four commercial casinos upstate. The other licences went to Tioga Downs, del Lago and Rivers Casino. The Monticello property, roughly two hours from Manhattan, has 1,600 slot machines, about 150 live table games and a 2,500-seat event venue.
The deal also sits in a more competitive landscape. In April 2025 the county legislature received an analysis from Capacity Consulting that said one new New York City casino would cost Resorts World Catskills about $51 million a year in gross gaming revenue, roughly a quarter of its total, while three downstate casinos could cut that revenue by as much as 76%. Under the single-casino scenario, the local effects modelled included nearly 400 jobs lost, $13.8 million in wages gone and $2.3 million in local tax revenue eliminated.
Those worries sharpened after the state Gaming Facility Location Board backed three downstate proposals on Dec. 1, including the expansion of Resorts World New York City in Queens. That project is the most relevant to Sullivan County because Genting holds a stake in Empire Resorts and operates both properties. The Queens plan would convert the existing video lottery terminal facility at Aqueduct into a full commercial casino.
scdemocratonline.com reported that on April 13 the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency authorised mortgage-related agreements tied to a new credit facility of up to $300 million, secured by leasehold interests. IDA members stressed that the county was not directly providing the financing, and the new refinancing effort was described as a different approach from the original large-scale public bond transaction.
That earlier bond deal had already been criticised for how it was handled. The Times Union reported that the industrial development agency and the Resorts and Facilities Local Development Corporation entered executive session four times from April through December to discuss the transaction. The first closed meeting came on March 31, when the IDA discussed Empire Resorts Real Estate I and II and created the LDC to execute the bond deal.
The county legislature authorised the LDC on April 24, and its first meeting on May 12 lasted just seven minutes. By October, financial statements showed $325,000 paid to Walter Garigliano and $121,000 to Blustein, Shapiro, Frank and Barone. The bond deal was then indefinitely put on hold at the LDC’s Oct. 20 meeting after widespread criticism.
Officials defended the process as a public bond offering with limits on what could be disclosed. Howard Siegel said their ability to present certain information was constrained, while Garigliano said more public detail would have had to go into the official bond documents and be approved by Resorts World attorneys. The state Authorities Budget Office, in a January review cited by the Times Union, found that only 44% of motions to enter executive session across 397 sets of minutes complied with the Open Meetings Law.
Other reporting described a separate investor pitch for the same broad effort. NY Focus said investors were being asked to buy up to $585 million in bonds from the county’s new local development corporation, which would buy two hotels, a golf course and an event venue from Empire Resorts. It reported that one appraisal forecast hotel occupancy falling to 60% by 2029, compared with 86.5% in the bond pitch, while the pitch itself projected an 80% revenue increase for related businesses by 2029.
Jennifer Flad declined to explain the discrepancies, saying she was not in a position to respond to some questions.
