Automotive Heartland Gets Boost From Casino Complex

Wisconsin Tribe Applies for Casino in the Catskills - WI - A Wisconsin tribe, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, has applied for federal permission to build a casino in the Catskills. The tribe submitted an application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Monday to place 333 acres of land in trust near Monticello for a $600-million casino. The tribe estimates the casino complex will draw up to 6 million patrons annually and create 5,000 new jobs. "This is an important step forward for the Stockbridge-Munsee and for the people of Sullivan County," said tribal president Robert Chicks. It is unclear how long the BIA will take to review the application. (The BIA has been considering an application by the St. Regis Mohawks to build a casino in Monticello for nearly a year.) Michael McKeon, a spokesman for New York Governor George Pataki, says that talks with Indian tribes can begin after the BIA approves the proposals: "We're ready and willing to talk to them when they get their land into trust."

Las Vegas Casino Developers Have Plans for Macau - SINGAPORE - With its newly-acquired Macau gaming license, Las Vegas Sands Inc., in cooperation with a local group called Galaxy Casino, plans to construct a casino similar in scale and features to its flagship Venetian casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The Macau casino will have a Venetian theme – canal and all – and offer 500 to 1,000 hotel rooms, about 150,000 square feet of casino space, and a large convention area. "It will have a lot of common elements (with the Venetian in Las Vegas), but it will be different at the same time. We want to salute Asian culture," says Brad Stone, executive vice president of Las Vegas Sands. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Steve Wynn, another of the three Macau license holders, is eager to get started on his own Macau project, “That's what turns me on in life, building stuff that makes people say, 'Wow.' The opportunity to be the first American company (in Macau) to do the kind of things we do there, to make the best hotel in Asia, is so delicious that it's irresistible,” says Wynn. "It's not about money, although I have no reason to believe it won't be profitable. It's about personal gratification." Wynn and Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson will begin negotiations with Macau officials Feb. 18.