Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Tribe, N.Y. governor reach deal on Park Place-managed casino
By ROD SMITH
GAMING WIRE
New York Gov. George Pataki and the Mohawk tribe signed a deal Monday paving the way for the development for a Park Place Entertainment Corp. casino in the Catskill Mountains.
"We are very pleased the efforts of the tribe and governor have brought about the agreement today. It should enable us to move forward with the planning process," Park Place general counsel Bernard Delury said.
The Legislature still must approve the plan for the $500 million casino, which would give cash-starved New York state a share in slot machine revenue. Additionally, the tribe will meet June 7 to ratify the accord and the federal Interior Department must approve it.
Delury said it is impossible to predict how long final approval will take, but he expressed hope it would be before year's end.
In addition to the usual approval process, a group of gaming opponents is challenging in state court the governor's authority to enter into the agreement.
Park Place expects to break ground shortly after final approval, and Delury said construction would take about two years.
Park Place President Wally Barr said in a statement that the agreement "is a tremendous and long-awaited step forward. We hope it proves to be the catalyst needed to jump-start the rest of the approval process."
Park Place signed an agreement with the Mohawks in 2001 to develop a 750-room resort and 165,000-square-foot casino in Sullivan County in New York. It would be located on the 1,400-acre Kutsher's Resort Hotel and Country Club in Sullivan County which Park Place has an option to buy.
In addition, Park Place has an agreement to place 66 acres of Kutsher's land in trust for the Mohawks where the casino will be located.
Following final governmental approvals, the tribe in partnership with Park Place will develop the proposed casino resort, which Park Place will manage.
In the statement, Pataki said that although the agreement will provide the state some revenues, the main benefit will be thousands of jobs in the Monticello area.
Park Place has indicted it paid about $3 million for the exclusive right to manage future development by the Mohawk tribe for the next five years.
