Park Place Indian casino agreement reached

Monday, May 12, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Pataki administration and the St. Regis Mohawk tribe have resolved a last-minute dispute that held up the signing of an agreement to settle the tribe's land-claim lawsuit and open the way for a new casino in the Catskills, an administration official said.

The Mohawks' partner in the project is Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas, the world's largest casino gambling company.

The agreement is expected to be signed today by tribal officials and Gov. George E. Pataki.

Considered a minor obstacle, the dispute centered on the state's demand that wholesalers who sell products on the reservation should be licensed by the state.

The tribe objected because it makes cigarettes and saw the licensing requirement as an infringement on its sovereignty.

As a compromise, the two sides have agreed to let the tribe sell its cigarettes, but only on the reservation, the official said.

Under the overall agreement, the tribe would receive about $100 million over the next 35 years from the state and federal governments to resolve the tribe's claim that it was unfairly tricked out of thousands of acres more than two centuries ago. The money would be used to buy about 7,000 acres from willing sellers adjacent to the St. Regis reservation, which straddles the seaway in the northern Adirondacks and Canada.

The tribe would also receive two islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway and 95 acres of other state-owned land on Messina Point, officials said. The Mohawks would open a new casino in the Catskills and add slot machines to the existing Akwesasne Casino in St. Regis. In return, the state would receive a fifth of the revenue from slot machines at the new casino, and that share would grow to one-quarter in four years, or at least $100 million annually, officials said.

Once signed, the agreement would require several actions by the state Legislature, federal agencies and Congress. On Thursday, three chiefs from the tribe met with Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., in Washington to seek his help in expediting the tribe's application for a Catskills casino, pending before the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Schumer said that once the agreement is signed he will do all he can to speed up the process.

Pataki and three chiefs from the St. Regis Tribal Council were scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding this afternoon at the State Capitol, said Suzanne Morris, a Pataki spokeswoman. The casino deal would be part of a larger settlement of disputes over land claims and tax-free Indian retail sales.

"This agreement represents an historic breakthrough in two decades of litigation that has produced nothing but animosity and conflict," Pataki said in a draft written statement provided by his press office. "Today, we have agreed to a global resolution that will yield good things for the Mohawk Tribe and New York State."

The plan would turn an old resort area near Monticello, N.Y., 100 miles from Manhattan's Times Square, into the closest casino destination from New York City, competing with Atlantic City in New Jersey and two big Indian casinos in eastern Connecticut. The proposed agreement requires state, federal and tribal approval.

A complete gambling compact remains to be negotiated and signed.