The Oneida Nation of New York announced its intention to build its third casino in the state, with Point Place Casino expected to directly compete with the recently opened Del Lago Resort Casino. Construction will begin on the $50 million project in May this year and there are plans to insert 500 slot machines and 20 table games. It will be spread over a 65,000 square foot lot and will include a casino floor, dining options and bars.The Oneida Nation said that the new fully fledged casino will provide employment to 400 people.
The construction of yet another new casino in the area could mean that New York’s casino industry reaches saturation point even before the fourth non-tribal casino opens in the Empire State next year. Over the last five months, three of these casinos already opened their doors to the public, the latest being De Lago Resort.
The Oneida Nation’s new casino is scheduled to be located in Sullivan, Madison County, around 20 miles from downtown Syracuse. The tribe already owns and operates the Yellow Brick Casino, located just ten miles away from the site of the new casino, and said that Point Place will be inspired by its 2015 venue but will still carry its own unique features. In comparison, Yellow Brick Road has 431 slot machines and 14 table games.
The tribe also owns its flagship Turning Stone Casino and Resort, which opened in Verona in 1993.
Ray Halbritter, an Oneida Nation Representative said about the opening of the new Point Place casino: “Over the last few decades, we have worked hard to build a well-planned economic model that has sustained and invigorated the local economy – and our expansion projects have almost always exceeded expectations. In the coming months, we are looking forward to working with the community to launch this latest project and build off that success.”
Another spokesperson, Joel Barkin said: “We’ve always expanded and grown based on a number of factors. We see a demand and a market for a gaming facility here. We think this is an area where people will get very excited about it.”
The Oneida Nation aims to become a driving force in New York’s gambling landscape. Only recently, in anticipation of potential changes to the state’s online gambling laws, the tribe opened a social casino platform off its Turning Stone Casino platform. Players buy virtual chips and play a host of online casino games with them.
