by John Pawlak, USTA marketing director

Columbus, OH — The town board in Thompson, N.Y. has given Monticello Raceway’s operator, Empire Resorts, and real estate developer Louis Cappelli, doing business as Concord Associates, permission to move the Raceway from Monticello, N.Y. to that city, where Empire plans to build a hotel, casino, and a new raceway.

Empire Resorts plans a $1 billion entertainment complex, including the Raceway, on 1,735 acres of land once occupied by the Concord Hotel, one of the Catskills’ famed “Borscht Belt” resorts.

The complex is being called “Entertainment City,” and will feature a five-eighths-mile racetrack.

The Thompson approval was reportedly the final local regulatory obstacle to building the complex, but Cappelli is seeking legislative help from the New York Assembly in the form of reduced video lottery terminal levies and state development grants.