In 2017, the Seneca Nation of New York began depositing a share of tribal gaming revenues into an escrow account, claiming they were no longer obliged to pay 25 percent of their casino slot and video lottery machine revenues to the state. The tribe insisted the payments ended in 2016. The state said otherwise, and all court decisions backed the state.
In the saga’s latest chapter, the state forced the tribe to pay up with a subpoena that tied up tribal bank accounts, according to Buffalo news station WGRZ. Individuals and organizations with nation-issued checks were warned “not to attempt to cash or deposit the checks until (the Senecas) have rectified the situation.”
“New York State’s actions over the past few days were purposeful, malicious, and politically motivated,” Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said in a statement.
Leslie Logan, a member of the Mothers of the Nation advocacy group, said the move “is economically devastating to most in the nation,” and affects “virtually every member of the Seneca Nation, in all likelihood.”
In any case, the Senecas forked over $564.8 million to settle the five-year-old legal battle over casino revenues generated at casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca.
Governor Kathy Hochul wants to use most of the money to offset the state’s contribution toward a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills. The deal was required to be part of the new budget, due April 1. The governor’s plan drew the ire of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat running against Hochul for governor this year, said he supported the idea of a new Bills stadium, but that it could be built without having New Yorkers “fork over their tax dollars to help a billionaire donor get even richer.”
“I like the Bills as much as anyone, but this is outrageous,” said Republican state Senator Mike Martucci, who represents a district in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley. “Republicans are often criticized for being buddies with billionaires. What would you call this?”
The new Bills stadium is expected to be built across the street from the current Highmark Stadium. It will be an open-air arena with about 60,000 to 62,000 seats.
The Seneca Nation Council, meanwhile, while voting to release the disputed funds, likened the state’s actions to extortion. In a statement, the council said state lawmakers “used strong-arm coercive tactics, forcing a freeze of the nation’s bank accounts.”
During the legal fight, the Senecas always contended that the payments were not appropriate since the Department of the Interior did not review revenue-sharing settlements for the renewal period of the agreement. They maintain that the automatic 2016 renewal of the compact, which runs through 2023, didn’t specifically call for further payments.
In a letter to the Seneca Nation, made public in early March, the state ordered the tribe to “live up to its commitments” and make the payments “by no later than March 16, 2022.” In the event that the nation failed to honor its pledge, New York State claimed it intended “to immediately commence” enforcement and collection efforts to the full extent of its legal rights to recover the payments.
“My view is that this money was all generated in Western New York, and I would directly allocate that money to go to the state’s $600 million share for the stadium,” Hochul told the Buffalo News. “I made clear that I will not have a single word of conversation about that until the money is in the bank.”
