New York State Again Threatens Native American Tribe Over Gambling DollarsState Says It Could Approve A Commercial Casino For Niagara Falls |
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In a sense, the governor of the Empire State is helping it live up to its nickname.
The Cuomo administration said this week that it will look into allowing a casino upstate near the Seneca Nation’s casino in downtown Niagara Falls, says a report from The Buffalo News. The reason? The tribe is no longer giving Albany a cut of its gambling winnings.
The development could bode well for online poker, which the state has been eyeing for several years now as a relatively immediate tax revenue source.
The news of the tribe’s plans to halt the payments came earlier this year, and now the state is looking to put pressure on the tribe to continue forking over about $110 million annually. The tribe has paid about $1.5 billion to Albany since 2002. The tribe’s New York casinos are the Seneca Niagara Casino, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and Seneca Allegheny Casino.
The Seneca Nation said its compact with the state doesn’t say it needs to continue making the payments past 2016, which led to the most recent showdown with the state.
New York already allowed a commercial casino—the Del Lago Resort and Casino in Seneca County that opened in February—about 100 miles from the tribe’s Buffalo property.
That new casino was one of four Albany and state voters approved for struggling upstate regions, with three having opened their doors so far. The tribe’s compact granted the tribe casino gambling exclusivity in the region, so the threat to give a license for a Las Vegas-style casino right next door to the tribe’s most successful casino in the state would officially mark an end to that exclusivity. However, it would take several years of hurdles before a fifth commercial casino could begin construction, and it’s not clear if Niagara Falls could support another one.
This isn’t the first time the Senecas and state officials have argued over the compact. The tribe and the state had a dispute in 2013 over the new commercial casinos, but that was sorted out in part thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatening to allow a casino just 20 miles northwest of Buffalo. The state’s tribal gaming industry didn’t attempt to thwart the commercial casino referendum that the administration wanted to pass.
The compact is valid until 2023, but New York contends that it’s out the window if the revenue sharing payments don’t come in. The money goes to local communities.
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