New York casino operator Empire Resorts is shutting down slots operations at the Monticello Casino & Raceway to avoid cannibalizing its new Catskills property.

On Tuesday, Empire informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the subsidiary that runs Monticello had told its staff that the property would close its video gaming machine (VGM) operations “on or about April 23, 2019.” Monticello’s harness racing operations will remain as they are, at least, for the time being.

Empire CEO Ryan Eller was blunt about the reason behind the closure, saying the company needed to “improve revenue performance at our nearly Resorts World Catskills property,” the flashy $1.2b New York casino newcomer that opened its doors to the public in February 2018.

Resorts World Catskills has so far failed to live up to its original revenue projections, as have the other three upstate commercial casinos the state authorized in 2015. Empire expected the Catskills venue to generate $277m in its first year of operations but the venue managed only half that sum in its first 11 months.