Reply #57: Clinton is for Casinos in the Catskills and Obama is Against the Expansion of Gambling

[Dems Will Win]

Senator Clinton has long supported developer efforts to put Indian gaming casinos in the Catskills. Nevada-based Empire Resorts, which wants to operate a Sullivan County casino in partnership with the out-of-state St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, lists Hillary as a supporter of Catskill gambling on their Web site. The casino was rejected by Interior, but the St. Regis tribe has brought a lawsuit against the Secretary of the Interior for Abuse of Office to attempt to overturn the decision. Clinton's name is listed here on the Empire Resort Web site:

http://www.empireresorts.com/index.php?id=44#c145

Clinton has said that casinos are an "economic development tool" and said that "for many places in the country, it seems to be an important part of what they are trying to do to revive and maintain an economic base." In her first campaign for Senate, Hillary supported Indian gaming in the Catskills and Upstate.

When asked by the LA Times on January 18th about the social costs of gambling, Clinton replied, "Any human activity has social costs, really," she said, adding later: "Life is filled with trade-offs, and you have to do the best you can to balance the pluses and the minuses."

Mrs. Clinton’s big gaming industry fundraisers include the senior executives of Harrahs, Jan Jones and Philip Satre.

In contrast, Senator Obama has never been in favor of the expansion of gambling, saying that the "moral and social cost of gambling, particularly in low-income communities, could be devastating." And, with casinos, "you'll have a whole bunch of people who can't afford it gambling their money away, yet they're going to do it." As a State Senator, Obama has opposed expanding all gambling projects in Illinois, although he does not oppose all gambling, such as in Nevada.


"There's a fundamental question here," said the Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "Until this point, Obama's statements seemed to suggest that he did not buy into the industry arguments that this is a product like golf or Starbucks that should just go on Main Street. And Hillary, by attacking him, seems to have come down clearly on the side of the industry that this is economic development." (LA TIMES - "Clinton Plays Gaming Card against Obama" Jan 18 2008)

ALSO FROM THE LA TIMES:

"Satre, former chairman and chief executive of Harrah's Entertainment, said he too would help raise money for Clinton. Obama, he said in an interview, "doesn't think gambling should expand. He thinks gambling has a moral and social corruption attached to it."