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Saratoga Casino And Raceway Breaks Ground On New Hotel

After years of planning and community discussion, the Saratoga Casino and Raceway has broken ground on a hotel expansion that officials say will help the destination stay competitive and create hundreds of jobs.

Wednesday’s groundbreaking officially began the construction of a $34 million hotel expansion at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

The expansion comes after the company’s bid for one of New York’s full-scale casino licenses for an East Greenbush facility lost out to the Galesi Group’s Rivers Casino and Resort in downtown Schenectady.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway spokeswoman Rita Cox…

“This is a project that we’ve been working for..oh gosh..just about 10 years now. So to be able to get away with it is very exciting for everyone involved here.” 

Plans include a 108-room hotel, an indoor poor, fitness center, meeting rooms, a restaurant and bar. With the Racino open 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily, the company is hoping to attract overnight visitors.

Preliminary plans for the project were hotly debated and took center stage 2014, when the proposal also included a multi-purpose event space. Opponents had argued the expansion would harm the Saratoga Springs City Center. Plans for the event space were dropped in December.

Cox said the expansion comes as Saratoga Springs is looking to attract more year-round visitors.

“So to be able to continue to work with the community to provide more amenities and more things for people to visit Saratoga and our facility, that helps ensure that we’ve got a steady stream of visitors coming to us year round, not just the summer season.”

The Raceway’s last expansion in 2007 included the Vapor night club.  

The organization says the new 123,000-square foot facility will support 400 to 500 jobs and will help lower local taxes.

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner was one of the officials on hand for Wednesday’s ribbon cutting. She said the community must continue its support for the Casino and Raceway now that the facility faces increased competition from the nascent Schenectady casino, just 25 miles away.

“Making sure that the Gaming and Raceway remains a flourishing, successful business is really important not just from a tourism perspective but also from the perspective of supporting the harness track,” said Woerner.

The revenue from Video Lottery Terminals at Saratoga Casino and Raceway is used to lower property taxes and to bolster purses at the facility’s harness track.

Language in the new state budget allows for “games of skill” – machines like video poker and blackjack” – at the state’s VLT facilities.

The Casino and Raceway has said the new machines would let the facility to catch up to other states in the Northeast that already allow them.

Cox said obtaining the machines is a top priority.

“We’re working very closely with the manufacturers and with the Gaming Commission to ensure that we get them here as quickly as possible, so hopefully that will be coming in the next few months, but we do still have some things to work through.”

The Saratoga Casino and Raceway’s new hotel is expected to be completed by this time next year.

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
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