New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned the Seneca Nation they would face retaliation if they stop making casino revenue payments. Earlier this year, the Seneca Nation threatened to stop making revenue sharing payments.
The Seneca tribe of New York said the 2002 gaming compact ran through the end of 2016, but is silent on taxation beyond the 14th year of operation. Under terms of the 2002 deal, the Seneca Nation makes $110 million a year in revenue sharing payments.
Those payments are shared between 16 Western New York counties. Governor Cuomo is concerned about the welfare of those 16 counties, because they rely on the Senacas’ annual payments.
Seneca Nation’s Revenue Sharing Payments
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a spokesman for the Cuomo Adminstration said on Monday, “If they don’t fulfill their obligations to continue payments and to honor the compact, we are going to pursue putting an additional casino in Niagara Falls.”
Due to the anonymous nature of the threat, it is unofficial. If the Cuomo government chose to take that path, it would be a major blow to the Senaca Nation’s operations in Western New York, which include Seneca Niagara, Senaca Buffalo Creek, and Seneca Allegany. The tribe owns smaller venues in Cuba (Oil Spring) and Salamanca.
Rival Buffalo Casino Would Hit Seneca Hard
Whether the threat is taken seriously by the Seneca Nation is another matter. It is not the first time this governor has made the threat, as he threatened a Buffalo casino four years ago during an earlier tribal-state dispute.
For the past year, the two sides have had an increasingly acrimonious relationship. In 2016, New York State Gaming Commission officials found a listening device in an office the regulators leases from the Seneca’s Buffalo-area offices.
Investigation in Seneca’s Listening Devices
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office continues an investigation into the installation of that listening device. The Buffalo News reported that the device was discovered “about a year ago”. Because of the ongoing investigation, the spokesman for Andrew Cuomo said the governor felt it was inappropriate to schedule a meeting with Seneca officials.
Alphonso David, counsel for Gov. Cuomo, said in a written statement, “Given the publicly reported and verified criminal investigation in the Seneca Nation that commenced approximately a year ago, it would be inappropriate for the governor to meet with the Seneca Nation until the matter is resolved by the Erie County District Attorney.”
Seneca President Criticizes Cuomo
Seneca President Todd Gates pushed back on the reason for Cuomo’s demure. Noting that the two sides had planned a meeting on Monday, Gates said that the Tuesday meeting was canceled “over a completely unrelated legal issue”.
Todd Gates noted that the investigation by the Erie County district attorney involved a single member of the Seneca Nation. To make his point, Todd Gates invoked an ongoing scandal in the Cuomo Administration — the upcoming federal trials involving the Buffalo Billion program, which was launched in Governor Cuomo’s “State of the State” address in 2012.
The Buffalo Billion trials involve suspicious contributions made to Cuomo’s reelection campaign throughout the course of 2013. Those under investigation stood to gain from the Buffalo Billion program.
Todd Gates Invokes Buffalo Billion Scandal
In his public comments on Cuomo’s Tuesday cancellation, Todd Gates said, “Let me be clear, the allegations against the Seneca Gaming Authority employee have as much to do with the compact issue as the many ongoing investigations into Gov. Cuomo’s economic development programs.”
“Let’s not distract from, nor try to politicize, the fact that Gov. Cuomo has now canceled two meetings with the Seneca Nation regarding an issue that is important to the people he was elected to represent.”
The Seneca Nation’s president added that Cuomo has shown “blatant disregard” for the jobs the tribe has created in the state. When asked about Cuomo’s threat to build a rival casino in Buffalo, Gates accused the governor of public grandstanding and said he should be focusing on negotiating a new gaming compact with the Seneca.
Gates also said, “The governor should spend his time trying to figure out how he will fulfill the state’s continued obligation under the compact to provide payments to the local governments rather than continuing to seek ways to discredit the Seneca Nation.”
2013 New York-Seneca Nation Dispute
This is not the first time the two sides have had a falling out. In 2013, Andrew Cuomo threatened to build a new casino in the Buffalo area. At the time, the Seneca Nation had stopped making annual revenue sharing payments. The two sides eventually came to an agreement in that dispute.
The Seneca Nation’s payments to the City of Niagara represent 15% of the city’s yearly budget. A Wall Street firm downgraded Niagara’s credit rating recently, due to the shortfall created by the Seneca Nation’s cancellation of payments. The Seneca skipped a quarterly payment to Niagara in July, setting off the current budget crisis for the city of 50,000 people.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul Speaks Out
In reply to Todd Gates’ media attacks on Tuesday, Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul defended the government’s policy and tried to reframe the debate on Wednesday. Hochul said it is a matter of a business meeting its financial obligations, stating, “We feel there’s an obligation that has to be met.”
Hochul focused on the hardship the Seneca Nation’s policy has caused local communities, which provide infrastructure and services that help make the tribe’s casinos successful.
The lieutenant governor added, “We believe there’s an obligation that has not been met with payments to municipalities and those communities deserve to have the money that’s intended to come to them.”
