After more than a decade of work, it looks like the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians of Wisconsin has pulled the plug on plans for a casino in New York.
The tribe was pursuing an off-reservation casino under the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act. After commercial gaming was legalized in the state, the tribe also submitted an application to bid for a license in the Catskills region.
But the tribe and its partner, Trading Cove Associates, decided it was not financially viable to pursue the casino through either process. They cited the intense competition for the Catskills, a region about 90 miles north of New York City.
"The possibility, maybe even the likelihood, of a destination resort with gaming in Orange County so dilutes the market in Sullivan County that building and sustaining a first-class resort in Sullivan is not financially feasible for us," the tribe and Trading Cove said in a statement.
Plans called for a casino on a 440-acre site. Presumably, the tribe will ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs to stop work on the final environmental impact statement, which was released in January.
Get the Story:
Catskills casino team pulls out of the running
(The Albany Times-Union 6/5)
Catskills casino project goes bust, citing competition in Orange County
(Politics on the Hudson 6/5)
Trading Cove and Stockbridge-Munsee take Thompson casino out of running
(AP 6/5)
Developer Declines to Bid on Catskills Casino License
(The Wall Street Journal 6/6)
Trading Cove, Stockbridge-Munsees pull out of Sullivan casino sweepstakes
(The Mid-Hudson News Network 6/6)
Trading Cove withdraws from Catskills
(The New London Day 6/6)
$P Relevant Documents:
Final
Environmental Impact Statement | Final
Environmental Impact Statement Appendices
Federal Register Notice:
Final
Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Fee-to-Trust Conveyance of
Property and Casino Project for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Wisconsin in
the Town of Thompson, Sullivan County, New York (January 31, 2014)
Related Stories:
Stockbridge-Munsee Band makes pitch for commercial casino
(05/01)