As New York City Casinos Loom, a Catskills Community Fears for Its Future
Miles Dawydko
About five minutes south of Monticello, one of New York's big bets towers above the treeline in a hunk of silver. | Miles Dawydko
With crowds bussed in from New York City, Resorts World Catskills gave a boost to the local economy. What happens when competition moves in downstate?
Arabella Saunders · September 11, 2023
The casino floor at Resorts World Catskills.
| Arabella Saunders
Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel, in the nearby town of Liberty, closed in 1986. Most buildings were demolished in 2018; pool photographed on May 1, 2013.
| Amy McGovern
As resorts shuttered and bungalows were abandoned, job loss and poverty hit Sullivan County.
| Amy McGovern
“I’m watching the numbers. But it looks to me like they’re not growing.”
—Thompson town supervisor Bill Rieber
“First they get their deals, and then they cry poverty and make the state lower their taxes.”
—State Senator Liz Krueger
“They think it's a shithole,” one resident said of the racetrack. “They want to close it.”
| Arabella Saunders
“No matter what, when you’re dealing with a big corporation, they don’t care what the community says.”
—Robert Johnson, lifetime Sullivan County resident
When you leave Resorts World Catskills, a banner says "It was worth it." But was the casino?
| Arabella Saunders