Empire Resorts Announces Notice of Availability for Draft Environmental Assessment; Marks Next Step Forward towards Opening a Casino at Monticello Raceway.

LAS VEGAS -- Empire Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: NYNY) today announced that on September 7, 2006, its partners, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, received a Notice of Availability (NOA) from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) regarding the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) required to take the land into trust for the proposed St. Regis Mohawk Casino at Monticello Raceway.

The draft EA will be available for comment beginning Tuesday, September 12, at the Monticello public library and at the Monticello Clerk's office. Should no additional information be presented over the next 30 days requiring further analysis, this draft EA would be adopted as the final Environmental Assessment for the proposed transfer of the parcel totaling approximately 30 acres into trust for the benefit of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

David P. Hanlon, CEO and president of Empire Resorts stated, "We and our partners, the St. Regis Mohawks, are pleased with the draft EA and continue to work with the BIA to pave the way for a casino in the Catskills. This marks an important step towards creating thousands of jobs and a once in a generation economic opportunity for the region. Just as importantly, this project, to be modeled after some of the top Las Vegas casinos, places New York State on a competitive footing with the expanding casino markets in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut."

About Empire Resorts, Inc.

Empire operates the Monticello Raceway and is involved in the development of other legal gaming venues in New York. Empire opened Mighty M Gaming at the Raceway site on June 30, 2004. This facility features over 1,500 video gaming machines and amenities such as a 350-seat buffet and live entertainment. Empire is also working to develop a $500 million "Class III" Native American casino and resort on a site adjacent to the Raceway and other gaming and non-gaming resort projects in the Catskills region and other areas.

Statements in this press release regarding the company's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including the need for regulatory approvals, financing and successful completion of construction. The company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1994, and as such, speak only as of the date made. To the extent the content of this press release includes forward-looking statements, they involve various risks and uncertainties including (i) the risk that the various approvals necessary as described herein and other approvals required to be obtained from the United States Congress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission, the Governor of the State of New York and various other federal, State and local governmental entities are not received, (ii) the risk that financing necessary for the proposed programs or projects may not be able to be obtained because of credit factors, market conditions or other contingencies, (iii) the risk that sovereign Native American governments may exercise certain broad rights with regard to termination of its agreements with the company (iv) the risk of non-compliance by various counterparties of the related agreements, and (v) general risks affecting the company as described from time to time in it's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For a full discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.