New York non-Indian gaming referendum set in positive light

Thursday, September 12, 2013  

Government watchdogs and casino opponents in New York are questioning the way a non-Indian gaming referendum is being presented on the November ballot.

The referendum asks voters to amend the state constitution to authorize as many as seven non-Indian casinos. Not only is the question being placed first on the ballot PDF: Proposal 1], a section was added that says the expansion will aid in "promoting job growth, increasing aid to schools, and permitting local governments to lower property taxes."

"This one seems particularly heavily spun,” Gerald Benjamin, a political science professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, told the Associated Press. “I don’t think there’s anything illegal about it … it’s OK, but I don’t think it’s good.”

“These are not literally lies, but when read quickly are extremely deceptive and one-sided,” Stephen Quentin Shafer, the chairman of the Coalition Against Gambling in New York, told the AP.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) pushed for the referendum and threatened to place non-Indian casinos in tribal territories. He withdrew that component after the Oneida Nation, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and the Seneca Nation reached agreements affecting revenue sharing and other issues.

Get the Story:
NY ballot wording puts rosy spin on casinos (AP 9/12)
Ballot Measure on Casinos Will Have a Positive Slant (The New York Times 9/12)