The Oneida Nation of New York has stepped up its PR efforts to stop the planned Lago Resort & Casino in Tyre, which is one of four state-approved casino projects.
The $425 Lago casino project would be located next to the 10-county exclusivity zone that give the Oneida Nation a monopoly on gaming in Upstate New York, and the tribe’s latest PR efforts paint the project as rife with conflicts of interest and bad for the area. The Oneida Nation owns the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona and recently opened the Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango.
The tribe wants the New York Gaming Commission to reject the casino plan and says the Lago casino would have no real economic benefit. Instead, tribal officials argue the casino only would take jobs from its workers and essentially transfer them to the Lago casino operation after it opens.
Also opposing the Lago Casino, New York Assembly Racing Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow said the state erred in approving the casino site and should reject its license application.
“The location board apparently has never heard of Niagara Falls, Batavia, Farmington, Verona or Vernon – or they just don’t care about the people there and the jobs these communities will lose,” Pretlow said in statement.
The tribe also is running television ads saying the casino would be bad for the area, prompting counter ads from Lago casino officials, who say the tribe is just trying to protect its 20-year gaming monopoly.
The tribe counters that casino developers are playing upon race by focusing on the tribe’s opposition to the project, while ignoring opposition from other groups.
In their ads, Lago officials say the casino would create 1,800 construction jobs, 1,230 permanent jobs, and 630 indirect jobs.
The Tyre town board in October approved a court-ordered environmental review of the project, which was stalled after opposition groups questioned the environmental review process and called for another one.
The casino project is one of four awaiting final licensing from state gaming regulators, which are conducting background checks on casino owners and are expected to issue licenses by the end of the year.
