Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The Seneca Nation is asking a federal district court to stay all proceedings for 45 days regarding a court ruling the Senecas must pay the state $255 million in casino revenue during the renewal of the compact. Seneca President Matthew Pagels says the Department of the Interior announced it has yet to review the legality of the payment provisions.
Pagels says the issue is whether the Senecas owe the state revenue payments during the renewal period of seven years. He notes the DOI did not review whether revenue sharing during the 7-year renewal period was lawful because the Compact terms did not provide for any payments beyond the original 14-year term. The compact was approved in 2002.
"Review by the Department of the Interior can answer those questions," says Pagels. "This is not only the right way to resolve the dispute, it is also the fastest."
Pagels adds "The Nation's Rule 60 motion to the court seeks to stay further proceedings to enforce an arbitration award against the Nation while the Department conducts its review, or to vacate the court's prior judgment if the State refuses to cooperate with that review. While the parties agreed under the Compact that arbitration could be used to interpret the meaning of Compact terms, only the federal government has the authority to determine whether the terms themselves are lawful."
He further issued this statement: "For the past several years, the Seneca Nation has fought against New York State's effort to obtain an additional $1 billion in revenue sharing payments despite the clear language of our Compact that no payments are required. Such payments would violate federal law because the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is crystal clear that no state shall impose a 'tax, charge, fee, or other assessment' without a meaningful benefit to the Indian tribe. The State has done nothing to justify any additional payments. Indeed, it has made a mockery of our 'exclusivity zone' with its three racetrack casinos and a new state-licensed facility five miles from our zone in Seneca County.
Last week, the Interior Department expressed support for the Nation's position that further payments to the State must be reviewed for conformity with federal law and invited the parties to submit to a 45-day regulatory review. Unfortunately, and unreasonably, the State rejected that approach. The Nation remains committed to seeking an authoritative determination by the Interior Department as to the legality of the payments the State seeks from the Nation. And if the State does not so agree, the Nation believes there is a legal basis to invalidate the Nation's payment obligation. The best course right now would be for the State and the Nation to jointly request Interior Department review so that this matter can be resolved quickly and with legal certainty for the benefit of the Seneca people, our employees and the local communities that we support."
