Residents of the Catskills, a once-thriving resort community north of New York City, aren't jumping for joy with the state's approval of an off-reservation casino for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

Many support the casino in hopes that it will revitalize the economy. But they are discouraged by the ups and downs they have endured in their decades-long quest for gaming.

"You know how many times we've gone through this?" the director of the local library asked The New York Times. "Every year they say it's going to happen, and then it doesn't happen. There are mystical forces keeping it away."

The tribe plans to turn an old racetrack into a $600 million Class III casino. The tribe signed a compact with Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) to share up to 25 percent of slot machine revenues and to comply with all local laws.

Spitzer, in turn, concurred with the environmental assessment for the project. Now it's up to the Interior Department to take the land into trust, an action that won't necessarily happen soon.

Get the Story:
Despite Spitzer Letter, Skepticism About Casino (The New York Times 2/21)
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Casino in the Catskills still facing roadblocks (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 2/21)
DON'T BET ON CASINO: FEDS (The New York Post 2/21)
Casino could be tourist magnet that won't let go (The Poughkeepsie Journal 2/21)
War of the whirls (The New York Daily News 2/21)
Casino won't mirror tribe's first (The Albany Times-Union 2/21)
Visitors' bureau ready to promote casino (Mid-Hudson News Network 2/21)