casinos

Victor Whitman at the Times Herald-Record reports this morning that a onetime casino investor who sold land in Bridgeville to the Seneca Nation for an ill-fated casino project wants both his land back and $15 million in damages. Charles Petri of 3D Associates hoped to make a mint selling the rest of his Bridgeville land holdings once the casino was built, the paper reports:

Petri and his partners also want $15 million in damages from the Senecas only, saying they committed fraud by misrepresenting their intentions and abandoning the casino attempt. [3D Associates, Petri's company] planned to sell 18 acres next to the casino. It was anticipating more than $15 million in that sale, but the deal fell apart because the casino was never built.  Read more

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Photo by Flickr user Jim Lynch; published under Creative Commons license.

Now that the federal Departments of the Interior and Justice have put the kibosh on the proposed Stockbridge-Munsee casino in Sullivan County, the prospect of a Catskills Indian casino is all but dead -- again. And while plenty of the usual suspects in the local area are furious, others are just relieved.

Jennifer Grimes, a local realtor (and Watershed Post advertiser) who runs a vacation rental business called Red Cottage Inc., wrote recently on her blog that anybody looking to revitalize the Catskills through gambling is barking up the wrong tree.  Read more

The Times Herald-Record and the New York Times broke the news this week that the federal government almost certainly won't approve ex-governor David Paterson's plan to build a massive casino in Sullivan County.

Both papers obtained a leaked letter from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans -- the tribe that wants to build the casino in Bridgeville -- acknowledging that federal officials aren't keen on the plan. From the NYT:

[I]n January, according to the tribe, federal officials suddenly expressed misgivings about the viability of the tribe’s land claim and the ability of the Interior Department to approve it without Congressional action, as the tribe wanted. In a Jan. 31 letter to the department, a lawyer for the tribe acknowledged that department officials had told him it was “highly unlikely” the officials would change their views.

The THR had a story about ominous rumblings from the feds earlier this week, but this letter puts the cold hard facts in writing. Yesterday, news outlets across the country were reporting the plan was stillborn -- here's a report from the AP, and another from the Casino Journal.

Only die-hard supporters, like town of Thompson Supervisor Anthony Cellini, have any hope left for the Stockbridge-Munsee's Bridgeville plan. And according to a story in the Daily Freeman yesterday, even Cellini can't muster anything better than a morbid metaphor for the its prospects now:

Town of Thompson Supervisor Anthony Cellini, who favors the casino, still has hope for the project. “I’m sure the coffin is closed, but the nail’s not in it yet,” he said.

Earlier: More of our Bridgeville casino coverage.

The Capitol Confidential blog is reporting this afternoon that a lobbyist for a Saratoga Springs racino is suing Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration. The suit charges that the Sullivan County casino deal negotiated under former governor David Paterson is illegal.