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Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay’s Genting starts second phase of $5.5B New York casino resort expansion
Sandy Verma | July 26, 2026 8:24 AM CST

For the second phase, Resorts World New York City, operated by the Genting Group, will add a 400-room hotel tower to the existing 400-room Hyatt Regency on its 72-acre site in Queens.

The project also includes a 1,200-room Crockfords Hotel, a 7,000-seat multipurpose arena and a sports and media center named after Queens-born NBA legend Kenny “The Jet” Smith, according to a press release for its groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday.

Resorts World New York City launched the expansion after securing one of the city’s three gaming licenses last December, Bloomberg reported.

The first phase, including two floors of live table games and commercial casino slot machines, was completed in April, making the facility the city’s first full-fledged casino, according to the New York Post.

Since then, the resort has paid $170 million in casino taxes in the first 12 weeks of operations, making it the largest casino in the U.S. by gross gaming revenue. Earlier this week, it also expanded its first floor by adding 1,400 slot machines, bringing the total to 3,900.

“In less than three months after opening our doors as the first casino in New York City’s history, we are already moving towards a day when the city will have a first-of-its-kind integrated resort,” Lim, Genting Group’s executive chairman, said in the press release.

Genting group chairman Lim Kok Thay applauds at the soft opening of the Singapore’s first casino at Resorts World Sentosa complex in Singapore on Feb. 14, 2010. Photo by AFP

The full expansion is expected to create 10,000 jobs, including about 5,000 union construction positions, while adding 2 million square feet (185,800 square meters) of gaming, entertainment, dining, retail and convention space to the existing one-million-square-foot property.

The new Las Vegas-style resort, once completed, is projected to generate $2.2 billion in annual revenue.

Genting has been operating in Southeast Queens for 15 years, attracting around 5 million visitors each year and employing approximately 2,500 people. The group also has a presence in the Bahamas, Malaysia and Singapore.

The gaming empire traces its roots to Lim’s late father, Lim Goh Tong, who moved from China to Malaysia in the 1930s with no money or formal education and went on to realize his vision of building a mountaintop casino resort in Genting Highlands, about 55 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur.

Lim has overseen the group’s international expansion while diversifying into businesses including energy, property and biotechnology. He is currently one of the richest people in Malaysia, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $1.6 billion.


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