"Facing a fiscal crisis immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, state leaders wanted to bank heavily on getting large sums of money from casinos that were going to be operated in the Catskills.

That idea turned out to be a big bust then — and it hasn't gotten any better over time. Simply put, the state can't rely on casinos as a steady source of funding for a variety of reasons. And just getting one up and running in the Catskills has proven difficult, thanks to bureaucratic entanglements and the state's obvious attempts to get around its own constitution. In fact, the state would be better off trying to amend its constitution than to try to skirt the issue as it has done for decades now.

Gov. David Paterson has kept up the line of New York governors who keep pushing for casinos in the Catskills. The Paterson administration estimates three casinos would produce thousands of jobs and about $150 million a year in new state revenue. And New York's congressional delegation is hopeful, under the Barack Obama administration, the Interior Department might see things differently and ease the rules on off-reservation gambling.

The Catskills region needs an economic resurgence, but it's clear waiting for a string of casinos to be built is not the answer and never was."

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Editorial: Catskills casinos are not a good bet (The Poughkeepsie Journal 5/2)