Tweet
If you are on this web page you should already realize that Empire City is not a "true" casino, but a pari-mutuel creation of the New York Lottery. http://www.americancasinoguide.com/c...sinos.htmlThis pari-mutuel venue has no "live" games. Everything is electronic. The bulk of the casino is comprised of a few thousand slot machines on the building's first and second floors. In addition, there are a number of electronic gaming tables that have been added to part of the second floor of the casino. These games include roulette, craps, and -- the just added this month -- baccarat tables. It was the addition of the table games that caught my attention and intrigued me to check the place out. My comments are based on visits to Empire City in September and October of 2011.CRAPS TABLE NOT AS ADVERTISEDI visited the Empire City website before I headed to the casino. On their craps' page, the casino had a very short explanation of game basics and a graphic of what their craps table looked like. yonkersraceway.com/uploadedFiles/craps%20how%20to(1).pdf On the graphic, the FIELD said the casino paid triple on 12, but I noticed that was not the case when I got to Empire City. The payout was only double. I e-mailed the casino to inquire about this, but never got a response from them. Instead, the casino quietly changed the graphic to reflect the correct payout. This may sound like a minor complaint, but this subtle difference doubles the casino's edge on this bet from 2.78% to 5.56%.CRAPS MACHINE MALFUNCTIONThe craps "table" is actually ten individual betting stations all facing a flat screen monitor. The monitor displays the "table". As at a live craps table, the privilege of (in this case electronically) tossing the dice passes around the table dependent on the shooter's ability to make his point.On one occasion my betting station froze with the shooter trying to make his point. Not wanting to abandon the machine or my investment in it, I stayed at the machine. When nobody seemed to be coming to help, I actively tried to flag someone down for help. It took about twenty minutes to get an attendant who had the authorization to access the machine to help me.Play went on while my machine was down. My bet was returned. Besides an inconvenience, this event was an annoyance. I had bet the DON'T COME BAR, and the shooter sevened out. My bet would have won.CRAPS JACKPOT PROCEDUREAt one point while playing the DON'T PASS BAR with double (the max allowed) odds, my bet won and paid $600+. I won't do the math here, but it requires only a $75 bet on DON'T PASS with double odds to find yourself in this situation. With the point at 4 or 10 you are putting $375 at risk to win an additional $225. The machine stopped when I won, and announced I would have to wait for an attendant. This time it only took ten minutes for someone to help me, but I thought that too long.The attendant printed me a receipt which I had to bring to a redemption window. (No machine in the casino pays out cash. All machines take cash, but only issue tickets which need to be redeemed.) It was annoying that I had to wait for an attendant while play continued. It was a further annoyance that I needed to leave the table and lose my spot, to redeem the receipt in order to be able to play again.JACKPOTSA jackpot is any payout of $600 or more paid on a single event (roll, spin, hand) no matter what the odds of the payout. A ticket is printed for you, which you have to bring to a redemption window and wait on line to cash. You must also show photo ID to cash the jackpot payout ticket, and provide Tax ID information. Receipts for roulette seem to be printed automatically. I didn't observe anyone with a jackpot payout in baccarat.BACCARAT MACHINE BILL JAMAs I mentioned the Baccarat machines are new at the casino, so a few glitches might be expected. On two occasions my cash was not accepted by the machine. The machine took the bill but could not process it. The machine then informed me an attendant would need to be called. I got my bill back without a problem, but again it was not easy to flag down an attendant. A light does illuminate at the machine indicating a problem, but it doesn't appear that anyone pays much attention to it. I gather that there is no central monitor that informs the casino that someone needs help at one of the machines? From their slowness to respond, it certainly appears that way.BEVERAGE SERVICEThere is waitress service, but it is sparse. Coffee and soda are free. Alcoholic beverages will cost you. A plastic cup of Guinness ( ~12 ounces) cost $7.50. Other beer is less expensive. When I asked the waitress what brand the already poured brews she carried on her tray was, she told me "beer".REWARDSEmpire City has a rewards program called Empire Club. One point is rewarded for each $10 bet at a table game. As near as I can figure, each point is worth about 0.5 cents. So to generate $5 in rewards, one would have to wager $10,000 at the tables. The Empire Club card can be used at the roulette and baccarat tables, but there is no provision to allow its use at the craps table. Rewards are doubled for the slots from what I wrote above.I also found the card readers at both the game tables and promotion kiosks are not very good at recognizing Empire Club cards. It takes a few attempts to get them to acknowledge the card.SUMMARYWith a profit of over $50 million per month, Empire City is clearly a successful venture. nylottery.org/wps/wcm/connect/0c527d8044bea24d8b5f8b3b1ada7a32/empire_city_report.pdf?MOD=AJPERESI believe, though, it is only successful due to its easy accessibility to the over 10 million people in the New York City metro area. It is not someplace someone would drive a few hours to get to. Atlantic City and the Connecticut casinos are both but a few hours' drive from New York. Unless there is some promotion well worth my while, I do not plan to return to Empire City.
Read the full Casino Review
Read the full Casino Review