The place is a sham. I went for the second time just for a change of pace and it will be the last time. I read several reviews and it all comes down to one point: ALL THE MACHINES ARE CONTROLLED BY A COMPUTER IN ALBANY. The machines are nothing but scratch off lottery tickets including the video poker machines. Example: If you have a winning two pair, straight of flush and you break it up, you will still get the winning payback. The games are a sham. The payback on video poker is a miserable 92%. An 8 ounce cup of beer is $2.50, what a joke. Goodbye Empire City!

I'd been going there weekly since they opened in 2006, although I stopped going about a year ago. In the beginning you used to be able to win a little money. I, personally, never won a jackpot but a few of my friends did and I witnessed people winning jackpots on more than one occasion. The last year that I went (2009) was it for me. They had to have done something to the machines because you couldn't hit anything any more. All they do is suck your money in and give you nothing in return. First I thought it was just me but standing outside smoking I would here other people saying the same thing. I have some friends that still go up there (shame on them) and complain about it every time so I guess nothing has changed. As for the promotions - what a joke. Does anyone remember the scam involving employees fixing the promotions so their friends could win? 3 people were brought up on charges (you can google it and read the whole story). If they can fix that, they can fix the machines too. The FBI should really investigate them. Customer service is another laugh. Most of the floor people and food personnel are a bunch of lazy rude kids that want to get paid but not do anything for it. Nasty, nasty nasty. Not to mention the clientele that goes there. It turned into a real sleazy place. As for me, I've been saving my money for Aqueduct's opening later this month. I live in Queens so there's no tolls, traffic or additional gas for me. If they follows Empire's lead they will have their machines loose in the beginning to draw in the people but if they're smart they won't tighten them up as much as Empire did and they'll keep their customers. I see Empire City losing at lot of business real soon (Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn to be sure) and no one deserves it more than them.

Its extremely frustrating when you go to a casino 3 times a month only to keep losing over and over again. My husband, friends, and I have been going consistently for two years. You would think one of us would win big! That has never happened. We are not big spenders compared to others I see there by no means, but it's fun to win a little more than what you brought with you or lose it all. As far as comps are concerned we each get $5 a week, big deal. We have played in AC with the same amount of money, and have gotten gorgeous rooms for two nights, meals, and play all for free. The quality of people there also leaves a lot to be desired. New York State is very smart because people are using their disability, social security, welfare, and unemployment checks to play with and the state is getting back all the money they just shelled out. I'm surprised that they don't honor food stamps. Most people there playing are minorities and people that can't speak English. I've been there all different days and times and it never changes. My recommendation would be not to even bother going. We've stopped and will wait for the new casino to open in Queens, so that we can save gas and bridge money. I'd much rather go to AC and get all my comps or better yet go to the gorgeous Mohegan Sun Casino. As far as the food goes, the food court has better food than the buffet, which I wouldn't feed to my dog. You never get comps for food accept $5 voucher, which can only be used by the people whose name it's under, regardless of whether it's your husband or not. The $5 doesn't go very far even in the food court, so you will have to spend more money on food. All and all Yonkers is not only depressing but a big waste of time and effort!!

This place use to be good with their machines paying out, no more! I go to empire about two times a month and play the slots. All the good slot machines that hit jackpots are gone replaced with crappy tight money sucking machines. I use to see lots of people hit on the machines, no more. If I see someone hitting for $100.00 its alot. Don't bother going here, I'm just about done with this place.

On June 2, 2011, we entered the casino at 7:30 PM, and this is what happened between 11:00-11:30 PM: We played MAX bet $4.00 dollars a pop on the Genie Lamp slot, and guess what happened we got the bonus and it even re-triggered, and all we won was $34.00 dollars in the spin. We made sure we had witnesses to observe this scam and just we know who is controlling the slot machines.