MONTICELLO, NY — The six new members of the Sullivan County Legislature, along with the three that have been there a while, received a presentation from Charles Degliomini, executive vice president of Empire Resorts, which is in the process of creating the Montreign Casino in the Town of Thompson.

At a meeting at the government center on January 14, Degliomini said the overall investment in the property would be $1.3 billion. He said that would be divided between four main features: the casino, an entertainment village, the golf course and an indoor water park.

He said the object from the beginning was to create not just a single casino, but instead a facility that would drive “tourism and visitations” to the county. As current tourism stands, Sullivan County receives about four million visitations per year. When the doors open on the casino and other properties, he projects visitations will double to eight million per year.

Degliomini said Empire Resorts is a public company and the single largest investor in Empire is K.T. Lim and his family. Lim is also the chairman of Genting Group, which has substantial global gaming holdings, particularly in Malaysia, and is also in the process of building a $4 billion facility in Las Vegas.

Degliomini addressed the separate parts of the facility. He said the casino would have a 93,000-square-foot gaming floor with over 2,000 slot machines and over 100 table games as well as private gaming salons. There would also be an 18-story hotel tower featuring villas and penthouse suites, built to a five-diamond or five-star standard, which would enable the facility to attract the high rollers.

He said, “When I talk about that, everybody thinks I’m talking about the James Bond crowd, men in tuxedos and women in gowns. Are we going to get people in flip flops and shorts? Absolutely.” But, he said, they are going to market to multiple segments of the gaming public.

The casino will also have multiple dining opportunities, but no buffet, which is considered part of the old model.

The entertainment village would be separate from the casino and be a facility of 50,000 square feet. It will have restaurants, maybe a nightclub performance space and perhaps a skating rink.

Degliomini said the current Monster Golf Course is outdated in that it takes too long, seven hours, for an average golfer to play the course. He said the course would be re-designed and updated.

Finally, he talked about the indoor water park, which will be the one facility that will not be operated by Empire Resorts, but by the same organization that operates the Aquatopia Water Park in the Poconos. He said the indoor water park would be 75,000 square feet, with two or three acres outside for when the sun is shining. Degliomini said the water park facility in the Poconos has been operating at 98% capacity since they opened.

Degliomini said the casino itself would mean 1,400 full-time jobs when it opened, and when all four projects were up and running, there would be a need for more than 2,000 full-time employees.