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Mighty M Gaming Setting Records at First Year Anniversary

MONTICELLO, New York -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Empire Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:NYNY) announced today that the company's Mighty M Gaming at Monticello Raceway has drawn more than 1.1 million customers from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere to Sullivan County since opening on June 30, 2004. The facility set an attendance record on Memorial Day Sunday, May 29, with an increase of 23% over the previous mark. More importantly to New York State, approximately $36,000,000 has been paid by Empire Resorts to fund New York education in the past year.

According to Dave Hanlon, CEO and president of Empire Resorts, "Based on the past year, Mighty M is poised for a great 2005-2006. We are signing up 1,800 individuals to our Player's Club weekly and now have 109,000 members. We've also seen steady growth in the number of patrons who visit Mighty M by bus, both in repeat business as well as a growing number of new groups discovering Mighty M for the first time. In addition, we are one of the region's largest employers, with over 350 on staff, and are truly helping to rebuild the economy of Sullivan County."

Monticello Raceway has also benefited from the addition of Mighty M. On-track betting is up 27% and, during the first six months of 2005, Monticello Raceway purses rose by 154% -- as the number of horses claimed increased to 105 versus 68 last year. The facility continues to integrate racing with VGMs by expanding and improving the Lava Lounge with multiple high definition TVs, a state-of-the-art sound system, self-automated machines (SAM), easy access to the track's apron, and bartenders that can take patrons' bets.

"In July, we will introduce in-house progressive machines with rising jackpots, a long-requested game type we previously could not provide," said Cliff Ehrlich, senior vice president, operations for Mighty M Gaming at Monticello Raceway. "Additionally, we will be featuring other new games this summer including 'Wheel of Gold,' 'Money Storm,' new poker themes from IGT, redemption kiosks, improved sound effects on existing and new VGMs, and VGM promotional tournaments. In fact, we will be hosting New York's first VGM tournament on July 27th, which will be patterned after the highly successful tournaments found in many full service gaming facilities. And because we want to make a visit to Mighty M a fun and friendly experience, we've spent over $100,000 on customer service training."

Mr. Ehrlich continued, "Empire Resorts continues to make improvements to both Mighty M and to the track itself. In the past year, the Company spent $27 million renovating the 60,000 square foot gaming floor. In addition, a $1.7 million paddock area was constructed to attract the best horses and horsemen to Monticello Raceway. These investments have enhanced the gaming and racing experience for our customers and, we believe, been instrumental to the increasing demand for our service offerings."

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