New York’s Oneida Indian Nation, which operates Turning Stone Hotel Casino, isn’t guaranteed a piece of the action when the state launches mobile sports betting. But it some influence in the matter, in the form of a 2013 settlement that gave them exclusive rights to operate gaming in a 10-county swath of Central New York.
With that agreement in place, the Oneidas say, any mobile sports betting framework that excludes them would give them the right to withhold revenue-sharing payments. Those payments, about $70 million to state and local governments in a normal year, are a quarter of the Oneidas’ annual slot machine revenues.
According to NewYorkUpstate.com, in April Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget director Robert Mujica said, “At the end of the day, we want to come up with an agreement that respects the views of the Oneidas as well as the counties, and makes sure revenues go back both to the state and get shared different ways.”
The issue is complex. A plan favored by Cuomo and Mujica would run mobile sports betting like the state lottery, under the thumb of the governor’s office. Lawmakers want sports betting run by multiple vendors in partnership with commercial casinos. The Oneidas have proposed a compromise in which they would waive their exclusivity if they could locate a server at one of the commercial casinos.
Bids from potential sportsbook operators are due August 9. The New York Gaming Commission will select a minimum of two platform providers and a minimum of four mobile sports betting operators. Applicants that include a tribal partner will receive five bonus points in a 75-point scoring formula, but tribal participation is not mandated.
“A tribe has no advantage in trying to do it on their own because they only get five points,” an industry expert told Sports Handle. “It just goes to show that (the tribes were) much more of an afterthought.”
“Our plan gave them a seat at the table, now they just have entrance into the room,” New York Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow told the website. “It’s kind of unfair to them.”
