It still amazes me that people will still visit this casino knowing or not knowing that the video poker machines are false and not true poker machines as they are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. The video poker machines are controlled by a central computer system in Albany and are in actuality, a scratch off lottery ticket. The payback percentage is 92% and yet people rush off to play a system that is destined to make you a LOSER. I simply do not understand it. The machines are programmed to pay off a certain number of winners. The games are a farce; a scam. Although, one may be playing a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine, which with correct strategy would pay 99.5%; these machines do not pay that at all. I simply do not understand why New York State went in this direction and not use the RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR machines that are used in the States previously mentioned. If they did, I would probably return but not the way they are featured now as VIDEO LOTTERY TERMINALS. STAY AWAY!

Alan, comments of 12-19-10 and I completely agree that the video poker machines are NOT TRUE video poker machines as in AC, Conn, or PA. The Empire City and also the Monticello Raceway machines are what is called, VIDEO LOTTERY TERMINALS, all controlled by a central computer in Albany. These machines do not use a RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR. The payoff for VLT'S is around 92% so these machines are LOSERS! I went once and have never returned. The same applies to regular slot machines. These machines are described as PULL TAB or SCRATCH OFFS. The 9/6 VP machine that Alan speaks about is a FARCE. Why NYS chose to go this route is nuts. Instead of encouraging the public to install and play true VP machines, the public is going elsewhere. However, there are still people that will go there for the convenience even though they know they aren't true.

The slots here stink and are a scam. Huge variety but they never or rarely pay out. 100 lions bonus games show diamonds galore in the free spins, which are wild cards, but the machines zoom through them so fast, they don't give a payout when they are supposed to. They are fixed! The clientele is scary looking! Many appear to be non-English speaking lower income clientele, very rough looking. Two guys were fighting over a machine, threatening each other and the security guard did nothing but observe. I got up and walked away from the vicinity. Also, recently during a gas odor scare, patrons refused to leave their machines for their own safety. Guards were understaffed. Thank god it turned out to be nothing. Customer Service? On one visit, a promotions booth by the back entrance closed and the attendant made some handicapped patrons walk all the way over to the booth at the other end of the casino just to get a replacement card; he was rude. They should have promotions booths/customer service stations closer together. Problem with your machine? You have to wait at least 20 minutes for a slot attendant to show up. Senior Citizen nights: these are a total joke. The 'free' items they give you are cheap and worthless and break or wear out in no time. For 3 weeks in a row, they gave out plastic shopping bags. The kiosks in the back lobby are always broken. You can be on line for a half hour. As soon as Seniors get off the bus, they head to those machines for their coupons, and the machines are either broken or slow. The ATM's charge close to $5.00 to get your own money out - ridiculous. The Food Court service is slow, the food inferior, the cleanliness leaves much to be desired. The buses from the parking lots to the entrances are too small and people are crammed in like sardines. Boycott this place people, boycott it. Just because you don't have to drive to NJ or CT for a casino is no reason to come here. Its a horrible place.

I saw the casino on my way home from visiting friends in Nanuet, so I figured I'd stop in and take a look. I play a lot of 9/6 Jacks or Better in Atlantic City and thought I heard something about their video poker being a pull tab game, but I wasn't sure. The machines looked normal, but I was surprised to see a 9/6 game that was even better because it paid 60 instead of 50 for a straight flush. If this was a legitimate game with randomly generated cards it would have a return of 99.65% and I'd probably be a regular customer, being that it's non-smoking and a lot closer for me than Atlantic City. But I was very suspicious because I figured a stand alone casino not near any competition would probably pay 7-5, or 8-5 at best. I first asked a slot attendant and he didn't know, so I found a guy in a suit who confirmed they were pull tabs. I figured it was secret but I asked him if he knew what the return was. He said he didn't know but I could find out on the NYS lottery website, but this wasn't true. When I got home and checked, all I could find out was the overall hold percentage for all games, which varies but is a little over 8%.

Anyway, I got a measly $5 for signing up for the slot club, so I had to play something. No bonus or anything for having a Harrah's Diamond Card. I was wondering if the video roulette could be legitimate even with pull tabs. I figured I could bet red and black at the same time and the disadvantage (5.26% assuming no ties on 0) would most likely be less than anything else. I thought that maybe they can't really fix the hold percentage because you have many people playing with a single central wheel. Unfortunately the game I saw was full and it was a $5 minimum bet. I asked if there was something with a lower minimum but the lowest was $2, so I wasn't going to bother with my $5 free play coupon.

I found a 10 cent video poker machine so I played 10 hands at 50 cents/hand. I won $1.50 so I ended up with a total of $6.50, and I'm taking that and never going back. It's too bad they don't have a legitimate game, because I'd love to have a much shorter trip, no tolls (I use the free bridges), and especially no smoking. This could be a good option for someone who normally plays slot machines, because the casino's hols percentage could be about the same as everywhere else. For a slot machine it wouldn't really matter if the game was pull tab or RNG. But a pull tab video poker game is really a slot machine with no skill involved, and this is very deceptive to someone who might think they are playing something reasonable.

I have to agree with all the comments on the site. I live near Empire and used to go to Empire quite regularly. I have been going there to gamble since they opened and the most I walk out of the casino with was $200. My mother hit a $6000 when they first opened. That was the last time she hit. I walked around one day watching people play and I notice they have one or two jackpots for a couple thousand dollars and random people win a few hundred. Which is the extent of money I see being paid out at Empire. They sent me free slot play in the mail for two months and I never received anything else. I went to customer service and they told me some BS about it being the mailman. So, now I get the free slot play but no free food coupon. I personally think the slots are set up for certain people to win. Although I enjoy the atmosphere I don't go much and when I do I don't gamble because I get NOTHING IN RETURN. I would not recommend this casino unless they loosen their slots. The payouts are horrible and jackpots or hundred dollar winners are far and few in between. You can try it if you want but I am sure you will wind up like the rest of us BROKE AND FRUSTRATED!