A glimpse inside Resorts World Catskills, upstate’s newest casino

It’s about a two-hour drive from Nassau County to Monticello, New York, in the heart of the former Borscht Belt — one that takes you along progressively smaller roads until you wend past pine trees and stone walls to New York’s newest upstate casino, Resorts World Catskills.

From the outside, the 18-story resort cuts an austere profile, a mirrored tower jutting above the surrounding woods. Past the busy valet stand and through the atrium entrance, however, is a volley of sound and light. A 100,000-square-foot gaming floor jangles with thousands of slot machines. Unlike many casinos, where natural light is blocked so that gamers lose track of time, here high windows illuminate the casino floor, a refreshing touch.

Resorts World Catskills has received a lot of buzz both before and after cutting the ribbon on Feb. 8. More than three years and $1.2 billion in the making, the sprawling resort and casino will, when complete, have 332 suites, nearly a dozen places to eat, and — later in 2018 — another adjacent boutique hotel and “entertainment complex” with retail shops and a few more restaurants. Eventually, an indoor water park called The Kartrite will open, as will an 18-hole Rees Jones-designed golf course.

These are ambitious plans reminiscent of the grandeur of the hotel that once occupied this site — a Borscht-Belt resort called the Concord. They will also take time to enact. For now, though, you might hold off a visit until late spring or summer, when more of the resort’s amenities become available.

Their turndown service, though, is impeccable. Only about one third of the resort’s 332 suites were open in late February (weekend rates start at $299 per night). The rooms were plush and spacious, cast in cool tones with velvet armchairs, a huge desk, an enormous flat-screen television, comfy platform bed and plenty of tea and small candies. The marble bathrooms are large enough to do yoga in, with separate nooks for shower and toilet. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in lots of light — but may look out on a muddy construction site, reminding you of the general state of things.

As we check out in the morning, costumed dragons are taking their place outside the main entrance — the stirrings of a Lunar New Year parade. Soon, a volley of firecrackers explode and propel the dancing dragons (each manned by two dancers) into the casino and through the maze of slot machines, where they occasionally stop to shimmy and shake. We follow the crowd, cellphones aloft, and easily lose our sense of time and direction amid the maze of blinking slot machines.

Isn’t that why most people come, anyway?