New York leaders, including Hochul on Thursday, have promoted the new casinos as economic engines for both the state and the regions where they are located, but early reports from the first three to open indicate revenue is lower than anticipated. “Can we bring this region back to life? Absolutely,” said casino Executive Vice President Charles Degliomini.

The big hotels and bungalow colonies that once thrived in the lake-laden Borscht Belt are mostly closed now. The opening of the casino in Sullivan County caps decades of work by locals who hope gambling will help revive an area that used to be a magnet for tourists. The other three are in Schenectady, the Finger Lakes region and the Southern Tier. Resorts World is the last of the four to open, and it also is the largest.

The casino, at the site of the former Concord hotel in the town of Thompson, is one of four that was authorized by New York state after voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow gaming halls on non-Indian land.

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