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Feds give environmental approval for casino at raceway

December 23, 2006
By Victor Whitman
Times Herald Record

Monticello — The Bureau of Indian Affairs has OK'd the planned $600 million casino at the Monticello Raceway.

A top BIA official signed off on the final environmental review late Thursday, clearing the way for the governor's final approval.

But in a letter sent to the St. Regis Mohawks and Gov. George Pataki, the BIA also warned of possible changes in federal law that might doom this plan, and potentially, two other Catskill casino projects.

The proposed Sullivan County casino is 450 miles from the tribe's reservation near the Canadian border — and off-site reservations will come under more scrutiny, said James E. Cason, associate deputy secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior.

Among several hurdles to clear, the Department of Interior must take 30 acres of land into trust for the casino, part of a deal with Empire Resorts, owners of Monticello Raceway.

The Department of Interior is considering new regulations that will make it harder to take land into trust, particularly the farther away the reservation is from the proposed casino, Cason said.

"Please note that we share the concerns that many have expressed about the implications of off-reservation gaming and 'so-called' reservation shopping," Cason said. "We anticipate changes to the rules that may result in fewer off-reservation properties being accepted into trust."

Empire Resorts CEO and President Dave Hanlon urged the governor to move quickly to concur with the findings.

"It is clear from the Department of Interior's transmittal letter that due to the evolving nature of off-reservation gaming in the United States, New York state and local officials should work together to immediately secure this unique economic development opportunity before the federal legislative or regulatory landscape inexorable changes — leaving Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Atlantic City the really big winners."

A spokeswoman for the governor said Pataki is going to leave the decision up to Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer, who is on record as supporting casinos in the Catskills but has made no public comment about the Mohawk project.

This is the second time in six years that the Raceway has cleared the environmental hurdle. In April 2000, the Mohawks and Monticello Raceway got federal approval and were waiting for Gov. Pataki's approval.

But then the Mohawks left the Raceway and its management company for Kutsher's Country Club and Park Place Entertainment. The tribe was hoping for a quick approval, which never came.

Casino supporters, like Town of Thompson Supervisor Tony Cellini, say the project can now move forward — and that the Catskills is closer than it ever has been to opening a casino.

But after 40 years of broken dreams, even he wasn't ready to celebrate.

"The true test will be when the shovel goes in the ground and the ribbon-cutting takes place," Cellini said.

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