New York’s Aqueduct racino rakes in us$ 14 million in first 10 days

“These results are simply amazing. They far exceeded our expectations,” said Gordon Medenica, Lottery director. Of that profit, 44% goes into a state education fund and 31% goes back to racino operator Resorts World New York.

The remaining 25% is distributed to the New York Racing Association and the casino vendors. “Money is being spent in-state. That’s just a great change for New York,” Medenica said.

Michael Speller, president of Resorts World, said racino officials are “fully aware the results will stabilize” and credited their 1,200-person staff. In its infancy, the Queens attraction’s returns are already rivaling the more established Empire City in Yonkers.

Empire City and Aqueduct revenues both topped us$ 10 million in the week ending November 5, with Empire City edging out it’s Queens counterpart by a slim margin, according to weekly tallies compiled by the Lottery. “I think there’s a lot of untapped demand for gaming facilities in the New York market,” Medenica said.

Lottery officials said they see the two as “anchors” for gaming in the state, with Aqueduct pulling from the south and Yonkers pulling from the north. Earlier this week racino officials announced that they were adding 150 more jobs to address demand. “We have said from the beginning that we will continue to look for opportunities to create even more jobs and are thrilled to be able to do that so soon after our first phase of opening,” Speller said.

Thus far, the only hiccup with the new glitzy gaming hub has been traffic congestion, said Betty Braton, chairwoman of Community Board 10. “Most concerns that have been expressed to me deal with the traffic,” she said. “It’s difficult to judge by two weekends.”

The second half of the Aqueduct racino, which will include a second floor of gaming tailored to high rollers, is set to open in late December.