Cuomo Takes on Seneca Nation in Latest Casino Wars

Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration, frustrated with its long-standing financial dispute with the Seneca Nation and seeking more lucrative gambling revenues, will propose a new, non-Indian casino for downtown Niagara Falls.

The governor’s move sets in motion either an effort to jump-start stalled talks over the more than $500 million in lapsed casino revenue-sharing payments or an attempt to bring direct, non-Indian competition to the tribe's exclusive gambling empire in western New York.

Cuomo has said he wants to add three non-Indian casinos to upstate, but he is now preparing to increase the casino expansion to four facilities. For the casino plan to get the green light, he needs the newly created State Gaming Commission, which he controls, to determine that the 2002 Casino Compact between the Seneca Nation and the state has been breached.

Significantly, the Cuomo administration believes "ending the Indian monopoly would be an economic benefit" to the state.