The longstanding dispute between the Seneca Nation and New York State came to an end January 12.
The nation and the state agreed to enter negotiations for a new compact to replace the existing one, according to the Buffalo News. Discussions expect to begin within 60 days. The Senecas will release the revenue sharing payments withheld since 2017 when the disagreement began—believed to be $540 million. The tribe will once again make the quarterly payments to the state.
And for everyone involved, much of the credit goes to New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
“I’m sure that former Governor Cuomo was approaching this in a way that he felt was in the best interests of the state,” Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said.
Said Hochul, “I am pleased to have reached an agreement for the resumption of payments on terms that serve both the State and the Nation and that benefit Western New York communities, and I look forward to beginning discussions toward a new compact.”
A percentage of the casino revenue payments are passed along to municipalities where the Seneca casinos are located: Niagara Falls, Salamanca, and Buffalo.
Seneca President Matthew Pagels said the Seneca Nation will push for increased control over casino operations as opposed to the state gaming commission running the show. He noted that the Senecas have “vigorously raised many compact concerns in multiple legal challenges” during the four-year legal fight.
“Rather than pursue continued legal action,” Pagels said, “we believe it’s in the best interest of the Seneca Nation to address those important concerns through a negotiation of a compact that will provide clarity on our obligations and, equally as important, the obligations that New York State has to the Seneca Nation in return.”
The agreement will save the tribal nation $40 million in legal expenses, disputed fees, and other costs.
“This financial gain,” he said, “comes at a time when our community continues to struggle with the health and economic impacts of the ongoing pandemic and as we are making significant investments on behalf of our people.”
A federal court ruling in December in favor of the state—the third—contributed to the decision to end the dispute.
As part of a 2002 compact with the state, the Senecas received exclusive rights to operate full casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca, with the understanding that 25 percent of slot proceeds would be shared with the state, which passed along a portion of that money to the casino host cities.
The state would then send 25 percent of that amount, to the “host communities” where the casinos operate in Niagara Falls, Buffalo, and Salamanca in amounts proportionate to the size of the slot revenues at the casinos within their bounds.
Ordinarily, that would mean the three host cities would be due to share in $135 million. But Niagara Falls and Salamanca received significant advances from the state on the money, according to WGRZ.
The Senecas pay out more than $100 million annually to the state and local governments; the locals depend on the funds. Nation has invested more than $1 billion towards the development of the casinos and has paid out $1.4 billion in revenue sharing since 2002.
Niagara Falls City Councilman Kenny Tompkins said the city received annual advances of $10 to 12 million, and that several partner agencies take another chunk off the amount. Salamanca Mayor Sandy Magiera confirmed that city took a total of approximately $15 million in advances against expected future payments.
Buffalo only took $7 million in advance, leaving some $40 million for now, Mayor Byron Brown said.
“Our plan for the use of this money will be reflected in the upcoming budget that we present to the Buffalo Common Council,” Brown told reporters. “We will use the money to further improve the operation and efficiency of city government, quality of life improvements for residents across the city and to add to the city’s fund balance so we strengthen and stabilize the city’s finances.”
While acknowledging that the compact will be a contract between the state and the Seneca Nation, Restaino said he hoped there would be “close conversation” between the state’s representatives at the talks and Falls officials, according to the Lockport Journal.
“It’s certainly good news,” said Cattaraugus County Administrator Jack Searles. “We are certainly optimistic about it. … I’ve already had a couple of people approach me and ask what we are going to use the money for.”
The last time the county received a quarterly payment from New York state was the second quarter of 2016. The Senecas than interpreted the compact as saying no payments were required during the remaining seven years, according to the Olean News Herald.
In other New York state news, the Cayuga Nation in upstate New York won a victory over Union Springs when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the town’s Village Board appeal, paving the way for a gaming facility, according to the Finger Lake Times.
The village had asked the court to hear its appeal of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals last July which said the village could not enforce a local ordinance that bans gambling. The decision could not shut down the tribal owned LakeSide Entertainment.
The nation went to court in 2020. District Judge David Hurd of the Northern District of New York ruled that the Cayuga’s’ gaming operation met the requirements for Class II gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
“The Supreme Court has reaffirmed what we have known all along. The Cayuga Nation land within its reservation boundaries, as set forth by the Treaty of Canandaigua nearly 220 years ago, is entitled to sovereign immunity and protected by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” Cayuga Nation leader Clint Halftown said in a press release. “The nation’s electronic bingo hall, like all of our economic development enterprises, is an important source of revenue and opportunity for our members and we will continue to vociferously defend our sovereign rights as we have always done.”
