Shinnecock Indian Nation leaders say they will drop a bid to construct a casino in Hampton Bays if a proposal offered on Monday to build a $1.4 billion casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park is accepted by New York State.

According to a statement issued by the tribe, the Shinnecocks said their effort to build a full-scale gaming facility in Queens, featuring slot machines and gaming tables, would not only earn New York City and the state one quarter of the casino’s annual earnings, projected at a billion dollars plus, but acceptance of the proposal would also guarantee that the tribe would drop its bid to build a casino on the East End.

If the Shinnecocks’ bid, backed by Gateway Casino Resorts, a Michigan-based gaming company, to construct a full-scale casino in Queens is accepted by New York State, it will be the first such facility to operate in New York City or on Long Island.

The tribe’s application comes with one major sticking point: The Shinnecock Nation is still not a federally recognized tribe, an oversight that could make their application moot, according to Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Governor Eliot Spitzer.

“We cannot consider [the Shinnecock] proposal until the question of federal recognition is resolved ... it is not a process the state is involved with, and it is premature to speculate on the issue,” Ms. Pritchard said on Monday.

The tribe sought to address that issue this week, filing paperwork with the courts alleging that the tribe actually had been federally recognized in the past, and thus should have the status now.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation application came in to Albany before the 3 p.m. deadline on Monday, the last day to file bids to operate video gaming facilities at the racetrack, according to Mr. Spitzer’s office.

Earlier this year, the state issued a request for proposals to operate 4,500 video lottery terminals, also known as VLTs, at the racetrack. Other bids, consistent with the state’s request for proposals to operate VLTs, have also come from Connecticut casinos Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Development Company, among others. In September, Governor Spitzer recommended that the New York Racing Association cede control of any future VLT efforts at the Aqueduct Racetrack, as the association has been plagued by bankruptcy and scandal issues.

The Shinnecock proposal for a fullscale gaming facility far exceeds the 4,500 VLTs request issued by the state. The Shinnecocks’ bid is for a casino featuring 490,000 square feet of gaming space and 10,500 slots, 350 gaming tables and, eventually, a 1,200-room hotel.

But members of the tribe said their larger proposal makes solid economic sense. Summary figures provided by the Shinnecock Nation estimate the creation of 22,000 jobs in the Queens area and more than $536 million in total annual public revenues, which account for approximately 25 percent of the $2.56 billion annual expected total revenue generated by the proposed gaming facility.

State Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, the Speaker of the House, has supported the installation of VLTs at Aqueduct. But Mr. Silver said at a press conference on Monday morning that he had not yet received any indication that the Shinnecock proposal was legitimate. Though he has not seen the proposal, Mr. Silver said he doubts a full-scale gaming operation at Aqueduct will help the surrounding community.

“I don’t believe that the benefits of casino gaming in a city like New York will outweigh the social ills that it creates,” Mr. Silver said.

Also weighing in on the issue on Monday was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has long been an opponent of legalized gambling. In a statement issued through his spokesperson, the mayor stated: “I have always thought that gambling tends to be regressive, and I’ve not exactly been in favor of using it as an economic development model because it doesn’t seem to work.”

The tribe’s attempts to construct a casino on tribe-owned land along Newtown Road in Hampton Bays have been derailed because the tribe lacks federal recognition from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs—a condition that is now being challenged in court by the Shinnecocks. In a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior on October 5, the Shinnecocks are asserting that they have previously been recognized by the federal government, dating as far back as 1914. The lawsuit states that the tribe should be included on the list of federally recognized Native American tribes. The Department of the Interior has 60 days to respond to the civil action.

Calls to the Department of the Interior were not returned.

In 2003, the tribe held a groundbreaking ceremony after clearing a site for a casino on an 80-acre parcel in Hampton Bays, known as Westwoods, which sparked controversy on the East End. The Town of Southampton filed a federal lawsuit against the Shinnecocks in an attempt to stop construction. The sevenmonth trial ended in May, after four years of legal battles, though a final decision on the case has not yet been handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco.

According to a statement issued on Monday, the Shinnecock Tribal Trustees explained that one of the motivating factors for the tribe to enter the bidding fray was a response to the Connecticutbased Mohegan Indians making a bid to run the proposed facility at Aqueduct Racetrack.

In a joint statement issued by Tribal Trustees Randy King, Fred Bess and Lance Gumbs, the Shinnecocks said that they “remain very concerned that the state would allow an out-of-state tribe to come into New York, especially when we are ready, willing and able to work as partners with the state ... this is a creative proposal that seeks to resolve the state’s issues to the benefit of all involved.”

“Now we feel it is time to settle this once and for all,” said Mr. King in a separate statement issued by the tribal leader, referring to the lawsuits and the tribe’s attempts to construct a casino.

The New York State Constitution prohibits gaming unless a facility is run by a federally recognized Indian tribe. At this time, the Shinnecocks are still fighting for federal recognition.

In 2005, Federal Judge Thomas C. Platt issued an order that granted the 1,300-member Shinnecock Indian Nation recognition as a federal tribe. However, the U.S. Department of Interior, which houses the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has refused to accept the decision and will most likely not make a decision on the tribe’s application for recognition until at least 2009, according to a spokesperson for the Shinnecocks.

However, the lawsuit filed two weeks ago by the Shinnecocks against the Department of the Interior states that they have documentation showing that the Shinnecocks, along with the Seneca, Tuscarora, Tonawanda, Onondaga and St. Regis tribes, were first recognized in a published congressional report written by John R.T. Reeves in 1914. The report was then submitted to the Office of Indian Affairs, which is now called the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Franklin K. Lane, the Secretary of the Interior at the time, then restated the assertions of Mr. Reeves in a cover letter and report presented to Congress in January 1915.

The Shinnecocks say they have documentation, with some items dated as late as 1958, that reconfirms the 1914 findings that the Shinnecocks were one of six federally recognized tribes in New York State.

Mr. King, the Shinnecock Indian Nation trustee chairman, said he not only believes an approval for the Aqueduct bid will resolve the existing issues of where the tribe could run a casino, but would also go a long way in fulfilling federal reparations sought by the tribe. The ongoing litigation provides critical leverage that the Shinnecocks said they believe will help them to acquire approval to run a gaming facility in Queens.

The Shinnecocks are supported in their bid assertion by Gateway Casino Resorts. Tom Shields, a spokesperson for Gateway Casino Resorts, said in an interview on Monday that his group has been working with the Shinnecocks for the past few years to develop economic opportunities, particularly in the area of gaming.

Mr. Shields said that since the Shinnecocks have documentation dating back to 1914 that proves they were federally recognized, it is only a matter of time before they are recognized by the federal government. “It is obvious that the tribe has been recognized in the past,” Mr. Shields said. “Most people think it’s inevitable they will be recognized now.”

Gateway Casino Resorts is owned by Marian Ilitch and Michael Malik. Marian and her husband, Michael Ilitch, also own the Detroit Red Wings hockey team and the Little Caesars Pizza chain. Mr. Ilitch also owns the Detroit Tigers, though federal laws prohibit his wife, as the owner of a casino, to retain ownership in a baseball franchise.

Mitchell Etess, the president and chief executive officer of competing bidder Mohegan Sun, said his company submitted its proposal consistent with the request prior to the 3 p.m. deadline on Monday. Mr. Etess said he is confident that his company will win the bid to operate at Aqueduct.

He also said he doubts that the Shinnecocks will be a real opponent for the bid, as they are not officially a federally recognized tribe. “The Mohegans are a federally recognized tribe, and we have the experience in gaming,” Mr. Etess said on Monday. “This is a very complicated business.”

The 2,000-member-strong Mohegan tribe, which gained federal recognition in 1994, is celebrating its 11th year in casino operations this month. On Tuesday, Governor Spitzer issued a press release that named all of the bidders that have expressed interest in obtaining the VLT franchise at Aqueduct Racetrack. Those bidders include: Delaware North Companies Gaming and Entertainment and Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, Foxwoods Development Company, Greenwood Racing Inc., Mohegan Sun, Seneca Gaming Corporation, Penn National Gaming, and Shinnecock Indian Nation and Gateway Casino Resorts LLC.

An architectural rendering of Aqueduct Racetrack as envisioned by the Shinnecock Indian Nation. COURTESY OF SHINNECOCK INDIAN NATION

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