Empire Resorts Announces Notice of Availability for Draft Environmental Assessment; Marks Next Step Forward towards Opening a Ca

Empire Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: NYNY) today announced that
on September 7, 2006, its partners, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe,
received a Notice of Availability (NOA) from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) regarding the draft Environmental Assessment (EA)
required to take the land into trust for the proposed St. Regis Mohawk
Casino at Monticello Raceway.
   The draft EA will be available for comment beginning Tuesday,
September 12, at the Monticello public library and at the Monticello
Clerk's office. Should no additional information be presented over the
next 30 days requiring further analysis, this draft EA would be
adopted as the final Environmental Assessment for the proposed
transfer of the parcel totaling approximately 30 acres into trust for
the benefit of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.
   David P. Hanlon, CEO and president of Empire Resorts stated, "We
and our partners, the St. Regis Mohawks, are pleased with the draft EA
and continue to work with the BIA to pave the way for a casino in the
Catskills. This marks an important step towards creating thousands of
jobs and a once in a generation economic opportunity for the region.
Just as importantly, this project, to be modeled after some of the top
Las Vegas casinos, places New York State on a competitive footing with
the expanding casino markets in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Connecticut."

   About Empire Resorts, Inc.

   Empire operates the Monticello Raceway and is involved in the
development of other legal gaming venues in New York. Empire opened
Mighty M Gaming at the Raceway site on June 30, 2004. This facility
features over 1,500 video gaming machines and amenities such as a
350-seat buffet and live entertainment. Empire is also working to
develop a $500 million "Class III" Native American casino and resort
on a site adjacent to the Raceway and other gaming and non-gaming
resort projects in the Catskills region and other areas.

   Statements in this press release regarding the company's business
that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that
involve risks and uncertainties, including the need for regulatory
approvals, financing and successful completion of construction. The
company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on such
forward-looking statements, which statements are made pursuant to the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1994, and as such, speak
only as of the date made. To the extent the content of this press
release includes forward-looking statements, they involve various
risks and uncertainties including (i) the risk that the various
approvals necessary as described herein and other approvals required
to be obtained from the United States Congress, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission, the
Governor of the State of New York and various other federal, State and
local governmental entities are not received, (ii) the risk that
financing necessary for the proposed programs or projects may not be
able to be obtained because of credit factors, market conditions or
other contingencies, (iii) the risk that sovereign Native American
governments may exercise certain broad rights with regard to
termination of its agreements with the company (iv) the risk of
non-compliance by various counterparties of the related agreements,
and (v) general risks affecting the company as described from time to
time in it's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. For a full discussion of such risks and uncertainties,
which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual
Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.