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SCHENECTADY - People hoping to be the first to check out the Rivers Casino & Resort were lined up hours ahead of the river-front casino's opening Wednesday.

The casino opens at noon.

The 50-square-foot gaming floor will feature 1,150 slot machines, 67 table games and 15 poker tables but it will also house restaurants — everything from a high-end steakhouse to a burger stand and pastry counter — live entertainment and a spa.

Growing but orderly crowd outside valet entrance at @RiversCasino_NY. pic.twitter.com/8AEh5PRwpN

The casino was the second to open in the state this year and one of three planned after voters approved such casinos in a ballot referendum.

The $330 million casino complex is adjacent 165-room hotel that is nearing completion and is expected to open by summer. A Marriott hotel opened on the same property last year.

The casino is part of a larger $480 million Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor project developed by business partners Galesi Group of Rotterdam and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming.

Rivers Casino & Resort will be located adjacent to Galesi's new $150 million mixed-use Mohawk Harbor building project, which includes the 124-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel that's already open and a planned 50-slip harbor on the Mohawk River.

The earliest to arrive at the casino were waiting in a hallway inside the complex. Hundreds of others were waiting in a atrium near the valet parking center.

A casino official said the initially prepared for more early visitors than those who arrived. Things were going smoothly.

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