The prospect that casino gambling would come to Sullivan County looked like a sure bet earlier this year when the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs approved an application to put land into trust for the St. Regis Mohawk tribe for a casino at Monticello Raceway. However, shortly after the approval was granted in April, the St. Regis Mohawks abandoned the Monticello Raceway plan and its developer Catskill Development. Instead, the tribe turned to gaming giant Park Place Entertainment Corp., which is now moving forward on a plan to redevelop the Kutsher's hotel resort into a casino for the St. Regis Mohawks.

However, to date the only approved application for an Indian-run casino in Sullivan County is the proposal at Monticello Raceway, according to a spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. If the St. Regis Mohawks move ahead with Park Place and its plan at Kutsher's, a new application would have to be filed and approved.

Another piece of bad news for casino proponents in Sullivan County came recently when the driving force behind the casino and convention center at Kutsher's, Park Place Chief Executive Officer Arthur Goldberg died of complications from bone marrow failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD on Oct. 19 at the age of 58. On Oct. 23, the company reported it had selected Tom Gallagher, who was executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel to Hilton Hotels Corp., to succeed. Goldberg.