St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Reaches Accord with Sullivan County

Empire Resorts, Inc. ("Empire") (NASDAQ: NYNY) today
announced that on Thursday, June 15, 2006, the Sullivan County
Legislature passed a resolution approving a local mitigation agreement
between the County and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in regards to a
casino at Monticello Raceway. This agreement stipulates that the tribe
will make annual payments of $15 million dollars to the County to
mitigate any potential impact of the proposed Class III casino.
   Sam Wohl, Sullivan County Legislator and Chair of the Sullivan
County Industrial Development Agency, stated, "The St. Regis Mohawks
will become a big player in our local economy. The positive economic
spin-off from this casino will translate into new job opportunities
for our residents, increased local commerce and a jump-start to our
tourism industry."
   David P. Hanlon, Empire's President and CEO, commented, "We are
pleased to see the County reach agreement with our partners, the St.
Regis Mohawk Tribe. We believe there will be many substantial benefits
to Sullivan County and the surrounding community from a casino and
look forward to working with the local leadership to make this dream a
reality."

   About Empire Resorts

   Empire operates the Monticello Raceway and is involved in the
development of other legal gaming venues. Empire opened Mighty M
Gaming at the Raceway site on June 30, 2004. This facility features
over 1,500 video gaming machines (VGMs) and amenities such as a
350-seat buffet and live entertainment. Empire is also working to
develop a "Class III" Native American casino for the St. Regis Mohawk
Tribe on a site adjacent to the Raceway and other gaming and
non-gaming resort projects in the Catskills region and other areas.
For more information visit www.empireresorts.com

   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.