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The City of New York is days away from a milestone four centuries in the making. Resorts World New York City (RWNYC) has confirmed that on Tuesday, April 28, it will open the city’s first live table-games casino. The opening is subject to final approval by the New York State Gaming Commission, which is conducting its final round of testing this week.
Located next to Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the facility will allow visitors to sit at a live-dealer table and play blackjack, roulette, baccarat, or craps within city limits for the first time in New York City’s 400-year commercial history.
Inside the new $1.1 billion integrated NY casino resort
While the other two license recipients—a Hard Rock and Steve Cohen-backed project near Citi Field and a Bally’s venue in the Bronx—are not expected to open until around 2030, RWNYC’s parent company, Genting Group, was positioned to move quickly. This gives the Queens property a notable lead as the city’s only live-dealer casino for years to come.
Robert DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, described the launch as unlike anything the city has experienced, calling it “a transformational moment.” The redesigned third floor will open with over 240 table games and more than 1,500 gaming positions covering roulette, blackjack, craps, and baccarat. More than 2,500 slot machines will also be available, with several tied to multimillion-dollar jackpots.
This is only the beginning; once the full integrated resort is complete, RWNYC expects to house up to 6,000 slot machines and 800 live table games. The broader development plan includes a 7,000-seat arena and roughly 2,000 hotel rooms, a significant jump from the 400 rooms currently available at its on-site Hyatt Regency, which opened in 2021 and brought total site investment to $1.1 billion.
Building a premier gaming workforce at Resorts World NYC
The transition to a full-scale casino has necessitated a massive hiring push, with 1,250 new positions created ahead of launch day. Roughly 950 of these are filled by newly trained table-game dealers who completed their orientation in recent days. Total staffing now stands at over 2,200—more than double the pre-expansion level—and is expected to climb past 2,700 before summer ends.
These efforts are supported by structured training programs like the Resorts World Dealer School, which has already trained and placed over 400 residents at the Queens property, with another 500 graduates expected by May. Furthermore, RWNYC’s “Introduction to Gaming” initiative, which launched in 2022, has helped more than 350 community members build foundational knowledge in gaming operations, ensuring the economic benefits of the expansion are felt locally.
Joing the celebration: Ribbon-cutting and first dice roll
The ribbon-cutting event is set for 9:30 a.m. on April 28 at Resorts World New York City, located at 110-00 Rockaway Blvd. in Jamaica, Queens. Genting Group Chairman K.T. Lim will headline the ceremony, joined by Queens native and hip-hop artist Nas, who holds a partnership stake in the property. A symbolic first dice roll will officially mark the start of live gaming at the venue.
Drawing an average of 5 million visitors each year, RWNYC is already one of the busiest entertainment destinations in the region. Guests can enjoy dining at the recently reopened RW Prime steakhouse or the Good Friends Noodle House. Parent company Genting Group, operating globally since 1965, brings decades of experience managing destination resorts across the US, the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore.
According to a PR Newswire press release, regulatory testing is now entering its final stage, and New York City’s first full-scale casino is nearly ready to welcome the public.
