Empire City at Yonkers Raceway: For horseplayers and locals only

Re: Empire City at Yonkers Raceway: For horseplayers and locals only

Thanks for posting your review of Empire City at Yonkers Raceway.

I noticed something, however, that should be pointed out to you.

You wrote" Video poker has better pay out tables than Pennsylvania casinos."

The video poker pay tables at all New York racinos are irrelevant. That is because there is no skill involved in those games.

All gaming machines at the racinos in New York work like a scratch-off lottery ticket. There is a pre-determined number of winners and losers.

That is not the case in Pennsylvania racinos where the video poker cards are drawn randomly and skill is a factor.

Please keep this in mind when you play at any New York racino.

Excellent for horse players and simulcasting. Trackside dining room is decent if slightly overpriced. Buffet is a joke especially to anyone who has gone to ANY buffet in Vegas or AC. Food court is low end and does not compare favorably to any food court in any casino we have ever been in anywhere.

Casino closes at 2AM. Tough to exit by car if you hang out until closing time. Slots are fine and payouts seem better than in Pennsylvania. Video poker has better pay out tables than Pennsylvania casinos. Always noisy, crammed and crowded - Saturday nights are brutal.

No free alcohol. Service is erratic and servers have absolutely no personalities whatsoever. Restaurant servers are fine but virtually all "non-food staff" are cold and utterly disinterested in the customers. Good variety of slots, not great variety on video poker. No complaints whatever if you are playing the ponies. As a casino, its adequate if you live say within a 1/2 hour drive. The attraction is its convenient location to NYC and Westchester.

Interior of casino is visually mundane, machines are jammed together, small aisles, terrible pedestrian flow on the casino floor and hope you need not have to go to the bathroom because you may not get back to a machine. 5,300 machines and there are often lines to get at them - especially video poker.

It seems to us that the payouts at Yonkers on slots and poker are better than AC or Pennsylvania but we've never seen any published stats to back up our perceptions.

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