Catskill Mountainkeeper opposed bringing casinos to the Catskills because of the pervasive and compelling environmental, social and economic problems that will likely accompany casino development.

Now that gambling has been legalized and a casino in the Catskills is likely, we are working to ensure that whatever developments occur have the best possible outcome, and that the negative impacts are mitigated. If we are going to have a casino in the Catskills we want it to succeed. In 2008, we worked with the NRDC and other environmental allies to play an instrumental role in the rejection by federal officials of several so-called “off-reservation” Indian casino proposals, including one to be built directly on the banks of the famed Neversink River.

Multiple casinos along Route 17 near Monticello would bring a dramatic spike in traffic and pollution problems to the region, bring serious infrastructure and social problems, and could forever change the unique rural character of the Western Catskills. We continue to track these ever changing casino proposals now that gambling is legal in New York, and are ready to resume the active phase of our fight as needed – including in the courts – against the construction of numerous large-scale Catskill casinos.