Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) expressed doubts about the latest Catskills casino project yesterday, while a rival casino developer dismissed the plan as �improbable.�
Silver, who owns a home in Sullivan County, told The Post he was skeptical the Wisconsin-based Indian tribe planning the casino would be able to get the rare federal waiver it needs to proceed.
�This requires a federal waiver, and there hasn�t been one granted in at least 10 years,� Silver said.
�There are many people in the Catskill region who are hopeful about this, but I hope this turns out to be a positive rather than another negative for them.�
Gov. Paterson, Sen. Charles Schumer and local officials are expected in Monticello Monday to announce a state-casino compact with the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans.
The agreement will settle the tribe�s land claim in upstate Madison County, and give the state�s blessing to the casino project in the nearby hamlet of Bridgeville.
(Source: NY Post)
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The prohibition of setting up casinos is one of New York State law. The legislature should simply repeal the state prohibition – if it really wants casinos. There is no need to involve the Indians – and the state looks ridiculous when “importing” Indians from other states to “rent” a reservation in an area they have no connection with in order to help the state evade its own prohibition on casinos.
Casinos may or may not be a good idea, but this way of doing it looks absurd.