New York may have a casino in Vegas, but it has never had one in...New York. Well, not in quite some time -- though it is documented that there were casinos on Broadway in SoHo in the early 1800s (and of course in the 1900s there were places like Chumley's that secretly served as gambling dens). To legally gamble within city limits these days you only have a couple of options: OTB or the NY State Lottery.
Fear not compulsive gamblers, the Daily News is reporting that a Native American tribe is bidding to build and run a $1.4 billion gaming palace at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
The last-minute proposal may be a long shot, but the Shinnecock Indians are hoping to entice the city and state with the prospect of a half-billion dollars in revenue a year.
The tribe also is dangling another sweetener: a promise to drop its fight to build a casino on its ancestral lands in Southampton, which has roiled the playground of the rich and powerful.
The bid will be submitted today and the proposal is way more enticing than the others coming in (which propose a video lottery facility). The Shinnecock envision something closer to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun -- with slots, gaming tables and a hotel. Such an endeavour would be met with many obstacles (needing to be federally recognized as a tribe, for one) but if they play their cards right New York could finally get in on all that gaming revenue currently going to Jersey and Connecticut...or at least an organized crime family and some politicians will make out pretty well.
Photo of Shinnecock proposal via The Daily News.
