Tioga Downs is celebrating a milestone in the construction of their full-scale casino today with a topping off ceremony at 2pm. It is traditional for new casinos to hold an event when the top-most piece of framework is installed. Today’s festivities will see Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural, local employees, and local dignitaries signing the culminating steel beam before it is hoisted into place.
Tioga Downs’ expansion project has been under construction four months now with an earlier estimated completion date of 6 months, which would place an opening on the calendar at the end of April or first of May. Although no updated announcement has been made yet, Gural is expected to give an indication today as to whether that projection is still on track for the $140 million facility.
Tioga Downs was denied a recommendation by the New York Gaming Commission’s siting locations board in 2014 but the body revisited that decision and recommended them for the state’s fourth upstate casino license last year. In typical Gural fashion he has gone ahead with hiring and moving forward on the development which includes a new hotel, golf course, new food, beverage, and entertainment options, and space for Las Vegas style gambling while awaiting a final licensing decision. The new Tioga Downs is expected to be the first of four new casinos to open, joined later by?del Lago Resort & Casino near Tyre,?Montreign Resort Casino at Adelaar near Thompson, and?Rivers Casino at Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady.