Seneca Nation Offers $500 Million for Casino Compact

ALBANY, New York – As reported by the Albany Times-Union: "The Seneca Nation is willing to pay an extraordinary $500 million premium to the state to get a compact for a Catskills casino, the Seneca's proposed developer said Monday.

"The tribe, however, will not agree to collect taxes on cigarette sales, a concession Gov. George Pataki has been trying to get in exchange for casino rights. Some tribes oppose it as an infringement on their sovereignty.

"The Seneca offer is almost certain to be dismissed as the governor attempts to get sales tax or price parity deals included in a sweeping land claim/casino compact bill now being drafted. The bill would allow at least four other tribes to open casinos in the Catskills, according to several sources involved in negotiations.

"The Seneca would agree to give the state $500 million above the standard 20 percent to 25 percent share of slot revenues other tribes have agreed to, according to David Flaum, a Rochester developer whose real estate holdings include Queensbury Plaza.

"…The Seneca would also agree to build a casino in Buffalo -- the third of three they're allowed to create in western New York -- to resolve a dispute in which the tribe had said it preferred the Buffalo suburbs, Flaum said. It would also agree to build its Catskills casino in either Sullivan County or Ulster County to ease concerns of having too many in one county…"