Gov Spitzer ‘All-In’ on Catskills Casino
There was a time when the Catskills in upstate New York was teeming with all-inclusive resorts. Places such as the Concord, Kutscher’s and Grossinger’s were frequented for long weekends, and during the warm weather months it was common for families to spend the entire summer at one of these all-inclusive resorts.
In fact, the lifestyle experienced by those people was forever captured in the film ‘Dirty Dancing.’ Also known as the Borscht Belt, this area was the epicenter of Jewish comedy that gave rise to many popular comedians of the 1940s through 1960s such as Don Rickels, Milton Berle, Joey Adams, Woody Allen and Jackie Mason as well as hundreds more.
By the time 1970s and 1980s rolled around, other resort communities had captured most of the business and pushed many of the expansive resorts into the brink of bankruptcy. After Atlantic City legalized casino gaming in 1978, the Catskills tried a similar strategy and for decades lobbied to bring casinos to the area. Billboards with slogans saying ‘Casinos Mean Jobs’ lined the highways and many owners kept figuring next year would be the year casinos would save the region.
While it’s too late to save that historic bit of New York, newly inaugurated Governor Elliot Spitzer has finally capitulated to the casino lobby and is paving the way for a casino resort operated by the St. Regis Mohawk Indians. They will build and operate a full service casino facility adjacent to Monticello Raceway.
As previously reported by onlinecasinocrawler.com, the $600 million casino would employ 3,000 people and change the fortunes of residents in this struggling area of the state.
"By working together, we can establish a premier gaming facility that will produce significant revenues for the tribe and the state and help spark a resurgence of the Catskills region," Spitzer said of the freshly forged agreement.
According to the deal, which was leaked to the public Monday, the state would collect 20 percent of gaming revenue for the first two years, 23 percent for the following two years and then 25 percent after that. The St. Regis Mohawk’s also agreed to follow state tax, labor and health laws though they are a sovereign nation and technically not required to follow U.S. law.
"We commend Governor Spitzer's decisive action and commitment to our Sullivan County casino project which we believe will generate tremendous opportunities in and around the Catskills region," the Mohawk St. Regis Tribal Council said in a prepared statement. "We rejoice in the prospects this important project presents for the future of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the people of Sullivan County, and New Yorkers across the state."
All that’s left before the dice start rolling, is gaining the approval of the U.S. Department of Interior – which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- to permit the transfer of raceway land into trust. That’s expected to be approved shortly.
The tribe’s reservation is located much farther north than the Monticello raceway site 75 miles north of New York City. It’s actually hundreds of miles away along the Canadian border. However, if the land is taken into trust it would be considered reservation land.
"I will be in Washington and will certainly convey to the secretary how important this is for the economy of the Catskills and Sullivan County," Spitzer told The Associated Press.
A Catskills casino would be the closest casino to New York City that operates a full array of gaming options. Closer casinos, such as the one at Yonkers Raceway just north of the city, offer only slot machines. Right now the closest casinos are Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in CT, about a two hour drive from Manhattan. Atlantic City is two and a half hours away.
There have been a slew of major hurdles that had to be overcome, but this deal realistically paves the way for the gaming to occur.
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