Groundbreaking for $210M expansion project at Jake’s 58 

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Long Island business and community leaders and local elected officials will join executives from Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation and its development team at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday to mark the start of a $210 million expansion and improvement project at Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel in Islandia. 

The 300,000-square-foot expansion and 225,000-square-foot renovation will double the number of video lottery terminals to 2,000, triple the amount of parking and make way for upscale restaurants and new services aimed at enhancing the overall visitor experience. 

Suffolk OTB, which owns and operates Jake’s 58, engaged Patchogue-based bld Architecture to design the project and navigate the approvals process with the Village of Islandia. Ronkonkoma-based Aurora Contractors was awarded the bid to build it. 

The expansion will create 110,500 square feet of new space to house the additional VLTs and a 200-seat food court. There will also be a new three-and-a-half level, 168,000-square-foot parking garage, a new 17,500-square-foot VIP lounge and entertainment area, and renovations to the existing casino, third floor offices and the hotel’s 200 guest rooms. 

Much of Jake’s expansion project, first reported by LIBN in Dec. 2022, will be located on 10.3 acres adjacent to the casino hotel property that was purchased a few years ago, expanding the footprint of the gaming and hospitality facility to 17.78 acres. 

The existing slot machines at Jake’s will remain in operation throughout construction, though some of its services and hotel rooms will likely be offline during the work. The expansion and renovation project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2026. 

Though the expansion plan was hatched by previous Suffolk OTB leadership, former State Sen. Phil Boyle, who became its president and CEO in Jan. 2023, has overseen the project and shepherded it to the starting gate. 

“The expansion and renovation of Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel will mark an exciting new chapter for entertainment on Long Island,” Boyle told LIBN. “Doubling the number of our gaming machines will only be the start of the great things we have in store for our customers.” 

Environmental and local concerns voiced by local residents about the project were addressed by bld with strategic landscaping and buffering, including a “green” sound wall. 

“After two years of planning with OTB and obtaining approvals from the village and neighboring community, we are thrilled to see construction underway,” said Alex Badalamenti, principal of Patchogue-based bld Architecture, which is designing the project. “This much-needed expansion with new amenities, hotel upgrades and added parking will significantly enhance the overall user experience.” 

Opened with 275 VLTs in Feb. 2017 and adding 725 more three months later, Jake’s has been off and running ever since. Save for a COVID-induced shutdown for part of 2020, the facility has proven to be quite a money maker, with monthly gross gaming revenue of more than $22 million, according to numbers from the New York State Gaming Commission. The haul helped lift Suffolk OTB out of bankruptcy by the end of 2020. In the 12 months ending in Feb. 2024, Jake’s reported net winnings of $275 million. 

Though the VLTs kept the money rolling in, the operations weren’t all gravy. Suffolk OTB filed a lawsuit against Jake’s former owner Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North in Oct. 2019, alleging that the company had been misappropriating funds from the casino to benefit its other business interests. The suit was settled eight months later. 

Eventually, Suffolk OTB sought to end its rocky relationship with Delaware North and purchased the Islandia operation in the spring of 2021 for $120 million, $40 million for the property and the rest to buy out Delaware North’s management deal.