If officials in Sullivan County are worried about the future of the local casino, the concern hardly seems irrational.
Resorts World Catskills, which opened in 2018 as part of a state gambling expansion, has fallen well short of its initial revenue, jobs and tax projections, and that’s before three planned New York City casinos come online and cannibalize its customer base. With increasing opportunities to gamble, including online sports betting, there will be winners and losers — and Resorts World may well end up in the second group.
Nevertheless, the casino is already considered key to the Sullivan County economy, which has struggled to recover from the decades-long decline of Catskills resort tourism and was recently hit by the shutdown of a PepsiCo. snack factory with nearly 300 workers.
