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New York City is finally getting the real-deal casino experience—and it’s arriving in Queens first.
Resorts World New York City will open the city’s first full-scale casino with live table games on Tuesday, April 28, pending final sign-off from the New York State Gaming Commission. If that approval comes through as expected this week, it will mark a genuine first: legal blackjack, craps, baccarat and roulette operating inside New York City limits.
The property isn’t new—Resorts World has been running a massive slots-only casino at Aqueduct Racetrack since 2011—but this $5.5 billion expansion pushes it into full Las Vegas-style territory. And, for now, it will have the market to itself.
At launch, the casino will feature more than 240 table games and thousands of slot machines, with plans to scale up significantly over the next few years. The initial rollout alone includes roughly 1,250 new jobs (most of them table-game dealers), bringing the total workforce to more than 2,200, with more hiring expected by summer.
“New York City has never seen anything like what we’re planning for April 28,” said Robert DeSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, in a release. “Once 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 opening also puts Resorts World several years ahead of its competition. While the state approved two other downstate casino projects in late 2025—one backed by Bally's Corporation in the Bronx and another near Citi Field tied to Steve Cohen—both are being built from the ground up and aren’t expected to open until around 2030.
That gives Queens a rare head start as the city’s only place to play table games legally, at least for the next few years. Longer term, the project is aiming big: up to 800 table games, 6,000 slots, a 7,000-seat entertainment venue and thousands of hotel rooms.
But for now, after decades of debate, New York City is officially entering the casino era, and it’s starting in Ozone Park.