Listen to this articleFive months into the $210 million expansion project at Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel, construction on the Islandia casino’s new building is about to begin.
The new 110,500-square-foot building will house the 1,000 additional video slot machines that Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. was granted by the state last year. It will also be home to a 200-seat food court.
One of the key components of Jake’s expansion is the soon-to-be-completed three-and-a-half level, 168,000-square-foot parking garage that will accommodate about 500 vehicles, bringing the facility’s total parking capacity to 2,000 spaces, about three times the current available parking, which was constantly overflowing. There will also be more than 80 new electric vehicle chargers.
The project is designed by Patchogue-based bld Architecture and headed by Ronkonkoma-based Aurora Contractors as the general contractor.
“We’re off to a fantastic start”, said Michael Adler, director of Business Development for Aurora Contractors. “The collaboration between the design team, ownership, and Aurora has been truly wonderful. It’s due to these collaborative efforts that we are now able to commence with the next major phase of this project in the next few weeks, which is steel erection for the primary casino expansion area.”
The Jake’s project will also bring a new 17,500-square-foot VIP lounge and entertainment area, a 3,500-square-foot space for weddings, parties and corporate events, a “high-end” restaurant, and renovations to the existing casino, third floor offices and the hotel’s 210 guest rooms. Completion is slated for the first quarter of 2026.
“Once completed, the expansion will allow us to host corporate outings, conventions, trade shows and musical events,” said Phil Boyle, president and CEO of Jake’s owner Suffolk OTB. “For example, I think Jake’s 58 will become the perfect venue for first responders to host their installation dinners. The possibilities are endless.”
As a state senator, Boyle sponsored the 2013 legislation that granted the first 1,000 slot machines to Suffolk OTB, which was instrumental in lifting OTB out of bankruptcy on June 30, 2020, amid consistently declining horse racing handles. At the helm of OTB since Jan. 2023, Boyle would like to see Jake’s get sports betting, which would require state legislation.
“There are 3 million people on Long Island and no sports book,” Boyle told LIBN. He said the OTB could also partner with a sports betting company to create a mobile sports app for customers that they could access while on Jake’s property. “We would get food-and-beverage money, and it would be lucrative for OTB and the operators.”
Meanwhile, gaming operations have continued through the construction and Jake’s is taking in as much money as it ever has. The casino had a net machine income of more than $26 million in August, which is an increase of over $2.5 million from the $23.48 million net win in August 2023, according to numbers from the New York State Gaming Commission. Last year, Jake’s generated more than $123 million for the State Education Fund, in addition to more than $13.6 million to the state’s horseracing industry and $12 million for Suffolk County.
“The eventual transformation will be notable and not enough credit goes out to the OTB staff for maintaining the gaming and hotel operations,” said Alex Badalamenti, principal of bld Architecture. “Kudos to the Aurora team for their skill in managing a very challenging construction project safely and efficiently.”
The project is creating 800 construction jobs and more than 200 additional permanent jobs, eventually bringing the total staff at Jake’s to nearly 700 employees.
“The expansion of Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel will benefit Long Islanders in myriad ways,” Boyle said. “It will provide our patrons with greater entertainment options, create hundreds of additional jobs, and mean millions of dollars in new revenue for our schools, Suffolk County, and our host Village of Islandia.”
Jake’s expansion, and some leftover debt from Suffolk OTB’s 2021 acquisition of the property from Delaware North, was financed by a $346 million public bond offering in April. Institutional investors apparently felt the OTB’s tax-exempt bonds were a good gamble, as they sold out in two hours at an “all-in” interest rate of 6.05 percent.
“We were 10-times oversubscribed, seeking $346 million and receiving offers of $3.677 billion,” Boyle said, with offers coming from Vanguard, Putnam, JP Morgan Asset Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Franklin-Templeton Funds, and others.
And while Jake’s could face competition if a casino proposed by Las Vegas Sands comes to Nassau Coliseum, Boyle isn’t concerned.
“We have done extensive studies that even in the event that Sands wins the license and builds a casino in Nassau County, Suffolk OTB and Jake’s are going to do fine,” he said. “It would bite into us, but with the expansion and all the new amenities, we’re going to have a very loyal following. I believe they may check out the shiny new penny in Nassau County, but we have very loyal customers at Jake’s and that will continue.”