He reminded legislators that the state recently reached agreements with the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians as well as with the Cayuga Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma on long-standing land claim issues. Each tribe has proposed a casino project in Sullivan County. The state is also nearing a deal with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe on a land claim settlement accord. The St. Regis Mohawks have also proposed a casino in Sullivan County.

Allen told county lawmakers that the state believes it has a much better chance of obtaining the required approvals from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and from Congress if the state offers a package that includes all of the major pending Indian land claim litigation in New York. He notes that the Bureau and Congress should look favorably on the package since the land claim settlements require no federal funding.

He told county lawmakers that the state is hopeful to have all the approvals from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and from Congress by September that would allow casino development to move forward. Officials with the area construction trades, who packed the Sullivan County Government Center with supporters, believe casino construction will begin earlier than that.

Also at the hearing, legislators heard from two organizations that gave opposing views on casino gaming. Representatives of the Catskill Casino Coalition, an organization of business and construction trades interests, voiced their support for the resolution before Sullivan County to increase the permitted number of casinos from three to five.

L. Todd Diorio, president of the Hudson Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, said that the development of the casinos will create 10,000 construction jobs and thousands more permanent jobs upon completion. He also said that the estimated $75 million in impact fees the Indian tribes are expected to pay the county each year will help mitigate most of the impacts the projects might have on the county's roads and schools.

Representatives of the Casino Free Sullivan County organization testified that the casinos will increase taxes, crime and traffic. The organization's leaders charged that Sullivan County's economic development efforts are bringing in new business and that the county does not need casinos and the problems they say the developments will bring.