YONKERS, NY (WCBS 880) - As patrons streamed into the Empire City casino at Yonkers Raceway, golden shovels went into the dirt, breaking ground on a new $40 million expansion on Tuesday.

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“As word of mouth spreads, we’re still growing,” said the casino’s Timothy Rooney, Jr. “We always envisioned this happening, but it’s nice to see it finally here.”

Rooney says the new building will have the theme “Modern New York.”

The 66,000-square-foot space is expected to create 300 new jobs.

“40,000 square feet for additional games, table games, roulette, craps, as well as about 10,000 or 20,000 feet for restaurants and bars,” says Rooney. “We’re having more and more people come and we really need to do this to keep our customers comfortable.”

Along with creating jobs, Rooney says this will also bring in more money for Yonkers schools.