Irving, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's been nearly two years since the Seneca Nation and New York State agreed on a new gaming compact, however, that may soon change.
The original compact between the state and the Seneca Nation expired in 2023. Both parties agreed to a short-term extension, which would automatically renew unless either side chose to end it or they reached a new compact.
Seneca President J.C. Seneca says negotiations with the state are set to be scheduled soon now that the state budget is squared away.
"I brought forward an agenda that was all non-gaming, and so the state has gone through their process of the budget. Certainly that was holding up a lot of things in regards to dialog and getting together. Now, with that over again, that allowed the opportunity for the governor to come here today, and it also opens the door and for opportunity to start meeting on the compact issues, and we're working with her office in regards to securing a time for that," said Seneca in an interview with WBEN.
Because the gaming industry has changed dramatically over the past two decades, he would like to see a 0% slot revenue share with local municipalities in the next gaming compact.
"We have to have something of value. The exclusivity zone in regards to what we have, the slot machine issue, all of those things play into a new compact. So what value will we get in the future for anything. The influx of gaming within our exclusivity zone at Buffalo and Batavia, the Finger Lakes, along our eastern border. The casinos that are there, that are licensed by the state, have impacted our ability, and we've lost a lot of revenue to those facilities," Seneca noted.
Seneca says the Nation is still weighing its options to determine what would be the most beneficial moving forward.
"Does a revenue share make sense? That's what we're looking at. We've had public meetings with our people," he said. "Some are in favor of revenue share, if there's value. Some are just basically like myself, 0%. It's something that we're going to be able to go to the table and talk about and try to find resolve to them."