Thompson, N.Y. — Ernie Stuber was making his third visit in little more than a month, having driven the 80 miles or so from Hawthorne, N.J., a Passaic County borough that’s part of the New York metropolitan area.

“A lot of nice, new machines,” he said one day last week, referring to the casino floor at Resorts World Catskills, the Northeast gaming landscape’s bright, shiny new object. “I play the penny slots — no cards.”

For Stuber, 75, the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania is about the same distance from home as Monticello, the Thompson village that hosts Resorts World Catskills. Empire City casino in Yonkers, N.Y., is closer, he said, “But I don’t want to drive through the city to get there.”

He’s been to Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, too, he said, though not recently.

“Atlantic City’s getting better,” he added.

Stuber’s travelogue speaks volumes about the growth of gaming in the Northeast and the “challenging environment” Resorts World Catskills has invaded.

That environment includes Connecticut, where the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes plan to jointly develop a "satellite" casino in East Windsor to protect their Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos from the impact of a resort facility under construction in Springfield, Mass. The upstate New York casinos pose less of a threat to the Connecticut facilities, which began losing business to New York slots parlors years ago.

Mohegan Sun once proposed a Catskills casino, failing in a bid to win a license. Foxwoods, too, sought to partner on a project there before abandoning the plan.

Empire Resorts, which owns Resorts World Catskills, moved up its opening to Feb. 8 to coincide with the Lunar New Year, an important holiday among the Asian populations the casino is targeting. The debut was three weeks ahead of the March 1 opening mandated by state gaming regulators.

The three upstate casinos that entered the fray ahead of Resorts World Catskills — del Lago Resort & Casino in Tyre, Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady and Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols — all have failed to generate as much revenue for the state as they’d projected. Last week, in fact, del Lago’s owners sought a reduction in the tax rate the state imposes on its winnings, a request that appeared to go nowhere with lawmakers at the state Capitol in Albany.

In research it released in late January, Moody’s Investors Service predicted Resorts World Catskills would face tough sledding, too.

But, as Charlie Degliomini, the casino’s executive vice president, was quick to point out during a tour last week, Resorts World Catskills is a different kind of casino than its upstate brethren. It's also within 90 miles of New York City — and it’s not even nearly complete.

“We don’t consider ourselves a regional casino — drive in, drive out,” Degliomini said. “We consider ourselves an integrated casino destination.”

When fully integrated, Resorts World Catskills will encompass the $900 million casino and hotel that’s open now, as well as a second, adjoining hotel and “entertainment village” featuring retail and food options; an old golf course being redesigned by Rees Jones; and The Kartrite Hotel & Indoor Waterpark, which is scheduled to open early next year, bringing Resorts World Catskills’ overall price tag to $1.2 billion.

“We think of it as a campus,” Degliomini said. “When you look at it in its entirety, when all the different functions are in place, that’ll be the time to evaluate how we’re doing. ... We’re going to compete for people heading to Connecticut. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun do a good job, but we’re going to compete.”

Even on an overcast day, Resorts World Catskills was unusually bright for a casino, a result of floor-to-ceiling windows on the gaming floor. Two walls of a corner room in the hotel tower — at 18 stories the tallest building in Ulster, Orange and Sullivan counties, according to Talya Shlang, the casino’s public relations manager — also were glass, providing impressive views of the surrounding woods and the waterpark site.

The hotel includes 332 rooms, none of which is less than 600 square feet, Degliomini said. Still being built are a dozen penthouse suites on the top floor, eight “garden” suites and seven two-story villas, two indoor pools, a spa and a fitness center.

In addition to Asians, Resorts World Catskills is going out of its way to attract “high rollers” — gamblers used to betting especially large sums. The emphasis on the targeting of the two groups reflects the influence of the Genting Group, the Malaysia-based conglomerate behind the Resorts World brand, which Empire Resorts has licensed. Genting owns Resorts World New York City, the high-grossing slots parlor at the Aqueduct racetrack. 

Catskills comeback

Resorts World Catskills’ 100,000 square feet of gaming space houses 2,500 slot machines, including many that have yet to appear at other casinos, such as one that features "4-D" technology that reacts to a player's motion; 150 table games; and a sprawling poker room. About 30,000 square feet of the gaming space is devoted to Asian clientele. Dealers speak Chinese, the signage is bilingual and chefs serve up Szechuan and Cantonese fare in the restaurants.

“We believe it was a market that was underserved,” Degliomini said.

Buses arrive around the clock from Chinatowns in New York City, northern New Jersey and Connecticut.

One of the bars on the casino floor is equipped to provide sports betting if and when a federal ban on the activity is lifted, as many expect it will be. Later this month, celebrity chef Scott Conant is scheduled to open Cellaio, an Italian-style steakhouse. 

A fair amount is riding on Resorts World Catskills, which many regard as a key player in the hoped-for comeback of the Catskills, once a playground for wealthy New Yorkers fleeing summer heat for the cool of the mountains. Degliomini said the casino has had a positive impact, providing some 1,400 jobs, with hundreds more still to come.

“This was a summer destination for the the tri-state area in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s — then the three A’s kicked in — assimilation (of the Jewish population), air conditioning and cheap airfares,” he said. “There were The Pines, The Concord, Grossinger’s (resorts). After that, the area was left with the wealthy and the poor. Now, we’re helping recreate the middle class.

“Will it ever be what it was in ‘Dirty Dancing?’” Degliomini said, referring to the 1987 movie set at a Catskills resort. “Probably not. Will it be better than it's been lately? Yes.”

b.hallenbeck@theday.com