New Casino Opens In Catskills After Decades Of Waiting

MONTICELLO, N.Y. (AP) — A Catskills casino promoted as economic boost to this old resort area is opening in an increasingly competitive regional market.

Resorts World Catskills is opening Thursday in the heart of the old "Borscht Belt." It will feature more than 150 table games and 2,150 slot machines about 80 miles northwest of New York City.

The $1.2 billion resort complex will feature a hotel, a golf course and the fourth of four Las Vegas-style upstate casinos opening under a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution.

Locals hoping to revive the region have been trying to lure a casino for decades. And Resorts World is expected to draw gamblers from the lucrative metropolitan-area market.

But it opens amid signs that the increasing number of casinos are eating into each other's business.