A bitter and costly casino revenue-sharing dispute between the Seneca Indian Nation and the state of New York has, as expected, found its way to the federal courts.
The disagreement, now in its third year, has already cost the state some $255 million dating back to the end of 2016, when the Senecas unilaterally halted the payments—25 percent of the annual slot machine revenue from its three casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca in exchange for a monopoly in western New York—claiming the obligation had expired under the terms of a federally mandated gaming compact the two had first concluded back in 2002.
Over the 14 years in between, the state had collected some $1.4 billion. Ten percent of that was redistributed every year to Buffalo, Niagara Falls and a host of other local communities in western New York, and they’ve been the biggest losers as the impasse has dragged on.
In January, an arbitration panel dealt the Senecas a blow, ruling that the terms of the compact require the tribe to continue the payments and reimburse the state for two years of back payments.
The tribe lost round two earlier this month after the U.S. Interior Department turned down the tribe’s petition for a second opinion.
Now the tribe is asking a U.S. District judge in Buffalo to void the arbitrators’ ruling on the grounds that it amounts to an amendment to the compact that is illegal because the Interior Department hasn’t approved it.
“You cannot simply skip past the fact that the arbitration decision and amendment must concur with federal law and, right now, the amendment and the law conflict with one another,” Seneca President Rickey Armstrong Sr. said.
Jason Conwall, a spokesman for Governor Andrew Cuomo, fired back, “This is nothing more than another stall tactic from the Seneca Nation as they continue to move the goal posts to avoid paying their obligations under a process that they signed on to.
Given the huge sums at stake, Armstrong said the tribe is open to the possibility of negotiating “a mutually agreeable resolution”.
“I am concerned that this litigation will continue for the foreseeable future, leaving the Seneca Nation and the local governments who benefit tremendously from our gaming operations in legal and financial limbo,” he said.
The administration, which at this point is likely considering a federal lawsuit of its own, has steadfastly refused to bargain.
“The arbitration panel ruled in favor of the state months ago, and the Seneca Nation needs to start paying what’s owed to these local communities without any further delay,” Conwall said.
