Resorts World NYC Just Opened the First Live Table Game Floor in New York City History — What Bettors and Casino Players Need to Know
Resorts World New York City opened 240+ live table games on April 28 — the first blackjack, craps, baccarat, and roulette floor in NYC history. Here is what it means for players and the broader casino race.
New York City has been home to a casino of sorts for decades. Resorts World New York City at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens has operated slot machines and electronic table games since 2011, generating billions in revenue and billions more in state education funding over that time. But live table games — blackjack dealt by a human dealer, craps with a stick person, roulette with a spinning wheel — had never existed anywhere in New York City. Until April 28, 2026.
On that date, Resorts World opened the reimagined third floor of its Queens facility, adding more than 240 live table games to its gaming floor and permanently changing what casino gaming looks like in the five boroughs. The opening followed the New York State Gaming Commission’s final testing and inspection of the new floor, clearing the way for the property’s full-scale commercial casino license — awarded by the Gaming Facility Location Board in November 2025 and ratified by the Commission in December — to take effect.
What’s on the Floor
The new table game floor features blackjack, craps, baccarat, and roulette, alongside thousands of slot machines offering various multimillion-dollar jackpots. The property is owned and operated by Genting Americas East, and Robert DeSalvio, Genting Americas East’s president, was direct about the significance of the moment: “New York City has never seen anything like what we’re planning for April 28. Once the Gaming Commission’s final testing is complete, live table games will be open and operating right here in Queens for the first time in the history of New York City.”
The 240-plus table games represent phase one of a far more ambitious buildout. When RWNYC received its full casino license, the proposed expansion called for a $5.5 billion physical investment at the 72-acre Aqueduct site, ultimately delivering 6,000 slot machines and up to 800 live table games across a 500,000-square-foot gaming floor, plus 2,000 hotel rooms and a 7,000-seat entertainment venue. The current floor is the functional foundation of that larger project, giving Resorts World a live casino operation to run and scale while the broader construction program advances.
What It Means for the NYC Casino Race
New York City’s casino licensing process produced three winners: Resorts World New York City, Bally’s Bronx, and the Hard Rock Metropolitan Park project at the former Meadowlands site in New Jersey — though that third project targets the broader New York metro. Bally’s and Hard Rock Metropolitan Park both face timelines in the 2030 range, with ground-breaking and construction still ahead. Resorts World’s existing physical footprint at Aqueduct allowed it to move faster than its competitors by a margin of years, and the April 28 opening makes that advantage concrete.
For the broader New York gaming market, the opening establishes a reference point. Resorts World will now generate data on how New York City consumers engage with live table games — volumes, game mix preferences, average table minimums, peak hours — that will inform projections for the Bally’s and Hard Rock projects. The political and economic arguments for those two facilities rest partly on the assumption that demand in the city exceeds what RWNYC alone can serve. The next few quarters of Resorts World operating results will be cited in those conversations.
New York State receives a substantial share of Resorts World’s gaming revenue under the license agreement, with proceeds directed to education funding. The addition of live table games, which typically generate higher revenue per position than electronic alternatives, is expected to meaningfully increase the property’s gross gaming revenue and the corresponding state share. The Gaming Commission and state legislators who backed the commercial casino expansion will be watching those numbers closely.
What’s Next
The RWNYC license includes plans for a comprehensive renovation and expansion of the Aqueduct site over the next several years. The full buildout is projected to require approximately $5.5 billion in capital investment, which Genting and its partners have committed to phasing in alongside casino operations. The property also intends to add a sports betting component, as the commercial casino license includes authorization for retail sports wagering. Details on that rollout have not yet been announced.
For casino players in the New York metro, the most immediate implication is straightforward: there is now a legally licensed, full-service casino with live table games accessible by subway and expressway in Queens. Competing with the Connecticut markets at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and the Atlantic City corridor in New Jersey, was the explicit goal of New York’s commercial casino push. As of April 28, that competition is live.