New York’s largest horsemen’s group is among the latest calling on
the Paterson administration to halt a looming agreement with a Wisconsin
Indian tribe to build a casino in the Catskill Mountains.
The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which represents
horsemen at New York Racing Association tracks, called on Gov. David
Paterson Nov. 20 to scrub plans for an announcement as early as the week
of Nov. 22 with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans that would
settle a longstanding land claim lawsuit in return for rights to a
casino in the Catskills—just 100 miles away from the planned Aqueduct
video lottery terminal casino.
New York THA president Richard Violette Jr., in a letter to the
governor, sharply criticized the plans for a casino just weeks after the
“ink has barely dried” on a new deal for the Aqueduct casino with
Genting New York, a Malaysian company. The Genting-run casino, coming
after on-again, off-again plans for an Aqueduct VLT facility since 2001,
is scheduled to see its first phase open next year.
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