New York City's first casino, to be spearheaded by Genting Malaysia Bhd in its first venture in the US, is expected to be opened in the fourth quarter of this year.
The casino will kick off with about 2,500 video slot machines, which will gradually be increased to 5,000, chairman and chief executive Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) Wednesday.
Genting Malaysia's subsidiary, Genting New York LLC, in September last year won a bid to become the developer and operator of a video lottery facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City.
The racetrack, spanning 77.7 hectares, is located in the neighbourhood of Ozone Park in the borough of Queens.
The facility, to be known as Resorts World New York, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, Lim said, according to shareholders at the AGM.
It is to be the first casino within the city and will be integrated with an entertainment hub that offers live shows and events.
Construction work on the project, which commenced after a ground-breaking ceremony on October 28 last year, is "progressing well", Lim said in the company's 2010 annual report.
Genting Malaysia is part of the Genting group, which has a 20-year track record of investing in the US.
Last month, another subsidiary of Genting Malaysia - Bayfront 2011 Property LLC - bought about 5.6ha of land in downtown Miami, Florida, with plans for a mixed development property project.
It spent US$236 million (RM710.4 million) on the waterfront land, which includes the building that housed publishing firm The Miami Herald.
The development, which will be known as Resorts World Miami, will include hotel, convention, entertainment, restaurant, retail, residential and commercial facilities, Genting Malaysia said in a press release last month.
Plans for the site are still at the planning stage, Lim said yesterday.
It is understood that the company cannot build a casino there for now as Florida prohibits casinos, except in native Indian land and selected race tracks.
This could later change, however, as gaming firms have been lobbying for the state to ease its strict stance, according to US news reports.
Genting Malaysia, which already has casinos in Malaysia and Singapore, is also active in the UK, where it owns the largest number of casinos. It has 46 outlets there, of which five are in London and the rest located within the provinces.
At home, the group is reportedly part of a consortium that is close to buying betting firm Pan Malaysia Pools, which is owned by Tanjong plc.
In addition to gaming, the Genting group has global investments in hospitality, plantations, power generation, oil and gas, real estate and cruise operations.
Genting Malaysia made a net profit of about RM1.3 billion last year, a slight drop from RM1.3 billion a year earlier, on higher revenue of RM5.3 billion. - Business Times
