State puts Wednesday deadline on $540M in unpaid casino cash payments

Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·3 min read

Mar. 11—With New York state demanding two casino cash payments totaling $540 million to be made by Wednesday, the Seneca Nation of Indians says it needs more time to allow the National Indian Gaming Commission to review the gaming compact.

On Jan. 12, the Seneca Nation announced it was dropping its lawsuit against New York, would begin making casino cash payments again and had entered into an agreement to begin discussions on a new gaming compact with the state.

According to an attorney with Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman, LLP, representing New York state, payments of $255,877,747.44 and $283,792,850.84 were due to the state on Jan. 22. The two payments — totaling $539,670,598.28 — represent the periods between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2018 as well as Jan. 1, 2019 through Sept. 3, 2021.

"The Nation has not remitted the required payments," the March 9 letter states. "Without waiver of any rights or remedies arising under the Settlement Agreement or otherwise, the State demands that the Nation remit the agreed-to payments to the state by no later than March 16, 2022, failing which the state will consider the Settlement Agreement definitively repudiated by the Nation and of no binding effect on the State."

State attorneys say if payments are not received by Wednesday, New York will "immediately undertake enforcement and collection efforts in respect of all amounts due under the judgment (the "Judgment") dated November 12, 2019 entered in the Litigation by the United States District Court for the Western District of New York."

"In light of the Nation's failure to satisfy the Judgment or make the agreed-to payments under the Settlement Agreement, it is clear that there remains a dispute between the parties regarding outstanding State Contribution Payments, which constitute "Disputed Amounts" as that term is defined in that certain "Nation Agreement" entered into on December 28, 2018 among the Nation, the Seneca Gaming Corporation, and Fifth Third Bank as administrative agent (the "Agent") on behalf of certain lenders and other parties thereto," the state's letter read.

In a Friday release, Seneca leaders say last month the Seneca Nation Council passed a resolution pausing the payments until the NIGC review was complete.

"The NIGC's review, and the time needed to complete that review, is not a matter that the Seneca Nation can control. We have pressed, and continue to press, the agency for an update. We hope that an official report from NIGC will come soon," Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said. "Rather than threatening aggressive action, the State should permit the federal agency responsible for overseeing Indian gaming issues the time it needs to complete its work."

While the Nation awaits NIGC's report, Pagels stated that the Nation is preparing for every circumstance, including further legal action should the state seek to take the funds by court order.

"Now is not the time for the state to revert to bullying and greed. We thought that chapter had hopefully ended and that a new day had dawned in Albany. We hope we are not wrong," he said. "We have seen what happens when New York acts like a government intent on eroding, ignoring and obliterating relationships with Native Nations and Native people."