A dispute over casino revenue-sharing between the Seneca Indian Nation and the state of New York is entering its third month with tens of millions of dollars in aid to several counties increasingly in jeopardy.
In March, the tribe shocked local governments across western New York with an announcement that it would no longer share casino revenue with the state after 14 years of payments.
In 2002, the Senecas signed a federally mandated gaming compact with New York allowing the tribe to operate Las Vegas-style house-banked casino games?“Class III” gaming as it’s known under federal law?and granting it exclusivity on casino gambling west of State Highway 14. In exchange the tribe’s three casinos began sharing 25 percent of their slot revenue with Albany. In 2014, the agreement was modified to provide counties in the Seneca’s gaming region a 10 percent share of the state’s take.
The arrangement has been worth about $100 million a year to the state, of which some $10 million is distributed to 20 counties.
Seneca President Todd Gates has been vague about why the tribe is voiding the agreement. Some reports indicate the tribe reads the revenue-sharing portion of the compact as having expired in 2016. Others say the tribe is miffed about a recent expansion of commercial gaming statewide which some in the tribe see as effectively violating its regional monopoly.
In 2013, New York voters passed a constitutional amendment that allowed commercial casinos. The following year, four licenses were made available in four separate regions. Two casinos opened earlier this year?the $330 million Rivers Casino north of Albany in Schenectady and the $425 million del Lago Resort in Waterloo in the Finger Lakes region?while a third began operating at Tioga Downs racetrack in south-central New York in December when the track switched from video lottery terminals to a full casino with table games. The fourth license is slated to become operational early in 2018 with the debut of a major casino near Monticello Raceway in the Catskills.
Indications are the expansion is already taking a toll on tribal gaming revenues, though it’s too early to say for sure or to what extent.
The government of Oneida County, home to the Oneida Nation’s massive Turning Stone resort complex, saw its share of gaming revenue from the state drop in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2016. The county received $3,544,418 for January, February and March, a year-on-year decline of $285,713, or 7.4 percent.
“We had anticipated a blip,” said County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. But he noted that since the county’s expectation is for $12.5 million annually, or a quarterly average of $3.12 million, the first quarter result was “still considerably above the baseline”.
For the Senecas, it’s del Lago that’s likely the main source of concern as the venue practically straddles the boundary of the tribe’s monopoly, located as it is just seven miles east of Route 14.
The state maintains that no compact violations have occurred on any account and the revenue-sharing provisions remain in force.
“We believe the ongoing obligation is clear, and administration officials have continued to be in contact with the Seneca Nation,” said a spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“We’re hopeful we can work together,” he said. “If not, we’ll go the arbitration route.”
Officials in western New York had hoped Gates and Cuomo would meet during the governor’s visit to Buffalo the end of last month. That didn’t happen.
The Senecas contend that a new compact is required and they look forward to negotiating one, they say.
“The Nation remains committed to being good neighbors and President Gates looks forward to meeting with the governor,” the tribe stated last week. “In late March, the governor asked President Gates directly if he would be willing to meet. The president said that he would, and continues to stand by that statement. So far, no specific dates have been set nor have any dates been offered by the Governor’s Office.”
Kristen Grandinetti, a City Council member in Niagara Falls, said she believes the two sides will resolve the dispute.
“I’m very optimistic about the whole thing. I think the Senecas’ beef is more with the state than it is with us. And I also, as a person who represents Niagara Falls, as an elected official, I don’t like to impose a feeling of desperation. I don’t think we’re there yet.”
