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New York State of Mind
By Richard C. Morais
What if you can't change a state constitution that since 1894--except for narrowly defined exceptions such as racetrack betting--has barred gambling? If you're a New York State politician, you use a federal loophole allowing casinos on Indian land.
In 2000 Park Place Entertainment, the Vegas casino operator, became a consultant to the gambling properties of the St.Regis Mohawks, an Indian tribe on the Canadian border that made headlines in the early 1990s with a bloody dispute over gambling. A week after that deal was inked, ParkPlace announced it was purchasing a 66-acre parcel from the tired Kutsher's Resort Hotel in the Catskills, with an option to buy the rest of the 1,416-acre property. Price:$50 million.
In March 2001 Park Place flipped the 66 acres to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be held "in trust" (pending regulatory approval) for the St.Regis Mohawks. In the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the New York legislature sped through a bill that green-lighted video slot machines and six Indian casino licenses, three earmarked for the depressed Catskills.
Presto: Three weeks later Park Place entered into a formal agreement, pending approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission, to "manage" the proposed St.Regis Mohawk casino on the Kutsher's parcel. This is where the Catskills' first hypermodern $500 million casino is likely to be built, just a 90-minute drive from New York City.
Donald Trump doesn't like the idea of a nearby competitor to Atlantic City, but everyone else seems happy. Park Place is securing the development's financing and handing 70% of operating income over to the St.Regis Mohawks, keeping the rest as a management fee. New York State will negotiate its take (probably similar to the 18% to 25% skim of "gross gaming slot win" agreed to in a similar deal with the Seneca tribe). Sullivan County, meanwhile, negotiated a $15 million annual fee fromPark Place. And Governor George Pataki? The BuffaloNews calculated Pataki received at least $355,000 in political donations from gambling interests during 2001.
"Pretty cynical" is how Richard Leone, president of The Century Foundation, a think tank funding gambling research, describes New York's move into casino gambling. A coalition of gambling foes agree and are legally challenging Pataki and New York State on constitutional grounds, but neither Park Place nor its partners seem worried the deal will unravel. "A bump in the road," shrugs Anthony Cellini, supervisor of the Town of Thompson, where the Kutsher's resort is situated. "We have the governor, the speaker of the Assembly, the Senate majority leader, all on board."
New York State of Mind
By Richard C. Morais
What if you can't change a state constitution that since 1894--except for narrowly defined exceptions such as racetrack betting--has barred gambling? If you're a New York State politician, you use a federal loophole allowing casinos on Indian land.
In 2000 Park Place Entertainment, the Vegas casino operator, became a consultant to the gambling properties of the St.Regis Mohawks, an Indian tribe on the Canadian border that made headlines in the early 1990s with a bloody dispute over gambling. A week after that deal was inked, ParkPlace announced it was purchasing a 66-acre parcel from the tired Kutsher's Resort Hotel in the Catskills, with an option to buy the rest of the 1,416-acre property. Price:$50 million.
In March 2001 Park Place flipped the 66 acres to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be held "in trust" (pending regulatory approval) for the St.Regis Mohawks. In the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the New York legislature sped through a bill that green-lighted video slot machines and six Indian casino licenses, three earmarked for the depressed Catskills.
Presto: Three weeks later Park Place entered into a formal agreement, pending approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission, to "manage" the proposed St.Regis Mohawk casino on the Kutsher's parcel. This is where the Catskills' first hypermodern $500 million casino is likely to be built, just a 90-minute drive from New York City.
Donald Trump doesn't like the idea of a nearby competitor to Atlantic City, but everyone else seems happy. Park Place is securing the development's financing and handing 70% of operating income over to the St.Regis Mohawks, keeping the rest as a management fee. New York State will negotiate its take (probably similar to the 18% to 25% skim of "gross gaming slot win" agreed to in a similar deal with the Seneca tribe). Sullivan County, meanwhile, negotiated a $15 million annual fee fromPark Place. And Governor George Pataki? The BuffaloNews calculated Pataki received at least $355,000 in political donations from gambling interests during 2001.
"Pretty cynical" is how Richard Leone, president of The Century Foundation, a think tank funding gambling research, describes New York's move into casino gambling. A coalition of gambling foes agree and are legally challenging Pataki and New York State on constitutional grounds, but neither Park Place nor its partners seem worried the deal will unravel. "A bump in the road," shrugs Anthony Cellini, supervisor of the Town of Thompson, where the Kutsher's resort is situated. "We have the governor, the speaker of the Assembly, the Senate majority leader, all on board."