Niagara Falls losing out on millions of Seneca gaming revenue could be a real possibility, according to the president of the Seneca Nation.
During a Thursday press conference in Buffalo, called to discuss the Seneca Nation’s efforts to build a gas station on the casino property there, Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca said the current agreement on a new state gaming compact has no revenue-sharing provisions or exclusivity with New York State. The “agreement in principle” was reached about a month ago, with Seneca attributing it to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s continued hostility toward them and her team’s inability to give them anything of value in return for the agreement.
“We expect this agreement will be finalized and sent to the New York State legislature sometime in the spring,” Seneca said. “That is the path New York and Governor Hochul chose.”
The previous compact that expired at the end of 2023 required the Senecas to give the state 25% of slot revenue from its Seneca Niagara, Seneca Allegheny, and Buffalo River Creek casinos on an annual basis, which the state then shared a percentage of with the host municipalities of Niagara Falls, Buffalo, and Salamanca.
Seneca said Thursday that the nation was willing to discuss fair revenue sharing as part of the compact, but the state did not provide market protections or other opportunities to grow and generate more revenue.
In Niagara Falls, money coming in from the revenue-sharing agreement has been divided between the city and several organizations like the Niagara Falls City School District, the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Commission, the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation, the Niagara Falls Housing Authority, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, and Mount St. Mary’s Neighborhood Health Center. In Buffalo and Salamanca, the tribal revenue sent is under municipal control.
A proposal for amending the 99-H legislation that was floated last year would have Niagara Falls keeping 80% of its annual casino revenue and using it for economic development, supporting neighborhood revitalization, public health and safety and infrastructure improvement. The remaining 20% would go between six of the previously named organizations, excluding the NFTA, as follows:
• Destination Niagara would receive 7%; not to exceed $1 million
• The Niagara Falls City School District and NFMMC would each receive 5.5%; not to exceed $750,000
• The Underground Railroad Heritage Commission would receive either 1% or $200,000
• The Housing Authority and Neighborhood Health Center would each get $50,000.
No other details about the “agreement” have been shared. A Seneca Nation economic impact report from last year stated its operations had nearly $2 billion in economic output while supporting more than 8,000 jobs across 16 counties, the majority being in their three casinos.
“The Seneca Nation will keep moving forward,” Seneca said. “We will always fight to defend our sovereignty, our treaties, our rights to create economic opportunities on our sovereign lands for the benefit of our people, and to create even more jobs in the local community.”
The Gazette reached out for comment from Gov. Hochul’s office, state Rep. Angelo Morinello, state. Sen. Rob Ortt, and Mayor Robert Restaino, but did not get an immediate response.
Restaino told WBEN that the new agreement caught the city by surprise, with the city getting between $11 million and $13 million a year from revenue sharing.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office disputed the agreement to WGRZ, saying that while state officials have been in productive discussions with the Senecas, there is no agreement, with conversations still ongoing, and any public discussion of specific terms and details was premature.
State Sen. George Borrello, whose 57th District includes Cattaraugus County, where the Seneca Allegheny Resort & Casino is located, also told WGRZ that the lack of gaming revenue would be a slap in the face for his district.