NY Judge Sides With The State, Orders Seneca Nation To Pay $255M
- The Seneca Nation ceased making payments to the state in the spring of 2017, due to a lack of language in their compact with the state.
- An arbitration panel earlier this spring found that the Seneca Nation was not within their legal bounds to withhold casino payments to NY.
- The Seneca Nation has exclusivity of casino gaming in a large portion of Western New York.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – After years of withholding payments to the state of New York, the Seneca Nation has been ordered to pay $255 million by a federal judge in Buffalo.
In 2002, the Seneca Nation and the state agreed to a tribal compact which would allow the Nation to have exclusivity over casino gaming in a large portion of Western New York. The compact was supposed to last until 2016 and the language for scheduled payments after that was not included.
In 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the tribe reached an agreement that would extend the compact until 2023. However, in the spring of 2017, the Seneca Nation ceased making payments to the state on the notion that there was no schedule of payments in their original compact after 2016.
The State and the Seneca Nation agreed when they made the compact that should any issues arise, it would be handled by an arbitration panel.
According to The Buffalo News, that arbitration panel ruled earlier this year that the Seneca Nation owes $255,877,747.44 in gaming revenue which covers payments they should have made from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018.
The Seneca Nation took the panel’s decision to court, but U.S. District Court Judge William M Skretny sided with the panel’s decision.
“The Nation has not shown that the arbitrators intentionally defied governing law, engaged in egregious impropriety, or dispensed their own brand of industrial justice,” said Skretny.
Skertny also denied the tribe the chance to take the matter for a review by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Legal gambling will continue to operate within the Seneca casinos while they decide whether or not to appeal the court’s decision.
“The court confirmed what we’ve said all along: the Seneca Nation needs to fulfill their obligations, make their neighbors and the state whole, and pay what they own in exchange for their exclusive gaming rights,” said Rich Azzopardi, an advisor to N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“It is our hope that they end this charade, stop using the courts to delay, and pay what they owe.”
The Seneca Nation also confirmed that they will be looking to offer legal sports betting in the near future upon regulatory approval. It is unclear whether or not the court’s decision will affect the roll-out of that activity in their casinos.