The Mighty M Gaming facility of Monticello Raceway is about 90 miles to the northwest of New York City, the closest gaming venue to the huge metropolitan area. Parent company Empire Resorts with partners the St Regis Mohawks have just signed a compact with Governor Eliot Spitzer that will allow a full casino on the site, if the plan receives final approval from the US Department of the Interior. In mid-December the casino proposal was cleared by the Department as not placing an undue burden on either the environment or the community.

The Monticello Raceway already has 1,500 video gaming machines, regulated by the New York State Lottery, as well as one of the country’s largest all-weather harness tracks. The US$600 million development project would include 3,500 slot machines, 150 table games, restaurants, retail outlets and entertainment with a 600-seat show venue. Under the compact New York state would receive 20% of slots revenue for the first two years, 23% for the next two and 25% thereafter.

As the land where the casino would be built is off-reservation, the Department of the Interior would have to take the 30-acre site into trust. In 1998 the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the St Regis Mohawks’ application for a casino at Monticello but since then tribal plans shifted and the deal between the Mohawks and Empire Resorts was not reformed until 2005. Casinos in the Catskills have long been a subject of controversy and the agreement now signed by Governor Spitzer is likely to see court challenges.

Should the casino proposal receive final approval, an estimated 3,000 full-time jobs would be created. The state would be expected to benefit from tens of millions of dollars in gambling revenue and the economy of Sullivan County and the Catskills would receive a much needed boost. The Mohawk casino would be on a site that already supports commercial gaming and has the infrastructure in place to cause the least disruption to the local residents. As the office of Governor Spitzer commented, “…a casino at Monticello Raceway makes a lot of sense.” (E-02.20.07)

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