St. Regis Mohawks Files Lawsuit Against US Secretary of the Interior

. October 14, 2008

NOVEMBER 1, 2007. Empire Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: NYNY) today announced that October 31, 2007 the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Washington, DC against Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. The suit charges that the Secretary has acted with undue delay and bad faith with respect to the Tribe's application to place 29.31 acres at the Monticello raceway into trust for a casino. The lawsuit serves as a "motion to compel" Secretary Kempthorne to take action and issue a decision on the application.

"While Empire Resorts is not a part of this legal action, we support the Tribe's decision and find it unfortunate that the Department of the Interior has taken so long to take the steps required by law to put the land into trust," stated David P. Hanlon, CEO and president of Empire Resorts. "Since signing the concurrence and state compact in February of this year, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, along with Senator Charles Schumer, Congressman Maurice Hinchey Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel and others, has taken the leadership in asking the Department to make a decision. We believe that mounting pressure from Congress and New York State, combined with this lawsuit, could make it harder for the Secretary to continue a policy of delay. We applaud these efforts and will continue to work with all interested parties to resolve the issue as expeditiously as possible."

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