"Wow. Talk about playing long shots. Talk about dreaming dangerously.

The push to bring gambling to the Catskills is on anew, with three state legislators from the region and near it showing the go-for-broke sort of thinking you'd expect in the wee hours in a bleak casino from the most down-and-out sort of bettor.

Assemblymen Gary Pretlow, D-Westchester County; Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Sullivan County; and Sen. John Bonacic, R-Orange County, want casinos in the Catskills, all right — where the action would include legal betting on professional sports.

They're also pushing for legislation that would allow for casino gambling at three Catskills locations. Even that would require amending the state constitution and getting the approval of New York voters to allow for casinos not built by Native American tribes or on grounds held in trust by the federal government for a tribe."

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Editorial: Bad, worse bets (The Albany Times-Union 1/27)