The Cayuga Nation proposal is the third major Indian casino gaming plan now in the works in Sullivan County. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and Park Place Entertainment have proposed a $500-million venture at the Kutsher's resort in the Town of Thompson, and the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans and Trading Cove Associates have plans for a casino in excess of $500 million to be built on vacant land near Exit 107 off Route 17 in Sullivan County.

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe had been working with the ownership of Monticello Raceway on obtaining approval for a casino at the raceway several years ago, but pulled out of the project at the eleventh hour after the venture had received approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Alpha Hospitality and its affiliate, Catskill Development, filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Park Place Entertainment in connection with its failed project with the St. Regis Mohawks which is still pending.

The Cayuga Nation casino at Monticello Raceway would entail more than 600,000 sf of new construction, including a 137,000-sf gaming floor. The plan also calls for improvements to take place at the raceway.

Alpha spokespeople say that the Alpha Hospitality-Cayuga partnership plans to offer a similar proposal to the venture that received approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs several years ago, which should give it a leg up on its competition, since the prior project involved extensive environmental impact studies.

"The Cayuga people have been landless and in economic distress for more than 200 years," says Cayuga leader Clint Halftown. "Our people need jobs, housing, education, medical care and the means to keep important links to our culture and our land. The Nation has discussed the prospect of casino gaming in the Catskills for more than two years. We now have reached a consensus. Our time has come." He adds that the Cayuga Nation plans to submit a comprehensive trust land application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs sometime this week.

The agreements between Alpha Hospitality and the Cayuga Nation call for the development, construction, financing, operation and management of the proposed casino. In addition to gaming operations, the agreements also include provisions for the construction and operations of hotels, retail and other support facilities in Sullivan County that will compliment casino operations, company officials say.

"This project is poised for quick approval," says Alpha Hospitality chairman and CEO Robert Berman. "We will be building on a site that had previously been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for purposes of building a Native American casino." Berman took over the helm of Alpha in 2002 after five company executives, including its founder, were indicted last year on tax evasion charges.

Martin R. Gold, a partner in the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal and lead attorney for the Cayuga Nation, says he expects the project will receive all the necessary approvals within the next six months to a year.

In addition to approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Indian Gaming Commission, the tribe must also obtain approval for the project from the State of New York. Gold says that in Oct. 2001, the US District Court for the Northern District of New York entered a $247.9-million judgment against New York State as compensation for what the Court found was the wrongful taking of 64,000 acres of Cayuga Nation land around Lake Cayuga in upstate New York. Gold noted that New York State is appealing that ruling.

Officials with both Alpha and the Cayuga Nation say that the partnership plans to pay local governments an annual fee of $5 million, the same compensation as the previous Monticello Raceway project had offered. The two other Sullivan County casino proposals have struck agreements to pay $15 million per year.

Another potential roadblock to any Indian gaming plan in Sullivan County is a lawsuit pending in state court challenging the constitutionality of the gaming law passed by New York State that allows for three Indian-run casinos in the Catskills, two in Sullivan County and one in Ulster County.

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$500M Indian Casino Project Proposed at Monticello Raceway

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