"Gamblers aren’t the only ones prone to jackpot delusions. Politicians all over see casinos as magic revenue chests that will help them avoid painful spending cuts, escape the trap of no-tax pledges and make budget gaps vanish. New York is no exception.

Gov. David Paterson wants to bring slot machines to Aqueduct, the crumbling racetrack in Queens. (Three previous attempts to strike a deal collapsed.) The new Nassau County executive, Edward Mangano, wants the Shinnecock Indians to build a full casino in the center of his county. A Suffolk County legislator, Wayne Horsley, wants the tribe’s casino out in his neck of Long Island — but not, of course, in the posh Hamptons, where the Shinnecocks actually live.

The federal government has finally granted the Shinnecocks recognition as an Indian tribe, more than 30 years after they applied. That is great news for the Shinnecocks, whose reservation is a pocket of poverty in a zone of immense wealth. As an official tribe they will have access to benefits like federal funds for housing, education, food programs and health care.

Unfortunately, what they prize most is the right to run a casino, and the host of suitors it has already attracted. Casinos are a magnet for tainted money and promote addiction, crime and other ills. The tribe should be finding other ways to use its valuable real estate and its long-denied recognition."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Gambling Fever (The New York Times 7/5)

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