For Mr. Grey, a Methodist minister and the director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, that interest was singular: to prevent New York State from legalizing casinos.

Sutton was a board member of CAGE, Citizens Against Gambling Expansion, a group funded in part by American Indian casino operators opposed to gambling expansion.

(Grey, in a rare acknowledgement of defeat, has just renamed it the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, tacitly recognizing that gambling is here to stay.)

That fact has heartened opponents of gambling, like Tom Grey, the executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

Thomas Grey, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said he was surprised and disappointed that Governor Pataki had again raised the issue.

"It's a very regressive tax," said Michael Geer, chairman of Pennsylvanians Against Gambling Expansion.

Tom Grey, who heads the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said he believed that the report would give his movement much-needed ammunition.

"This is the definitive battle," said Tom Grey, a Methodist minister who is executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

"Today we knocked out more than 4,000 machines, and got the opportunity to knock out 34,000 more," said Tom Grey, director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said opinion polls do not predict the outcomes of fights over gambling.