Indian Gaming > Opinion: Gaming benefits few at Seneca Nation

April 28, 2006

Opinion: Gaming benefits few at Seneca Nation

"Seneca front companies should be a problem for most Senecas, who this year will receive 23 percent of their growing casino empire's annual profit of $140.4 million. A Seneca preference law for casino contracts was also supposed to give everyone a business chance, not benefit "connected" individuals.

But the specter of a Seneca "friends and family plan" reverberates in the larger local community as well, and erodes the trust that Seneca leaders insist should be accorded them. No one broke laws; Seneca sovereignty separates these contracts from front-company safeguards established by the American legal system. But the Seneca Gaming Corp. interacts with that larger community, and its reputation is shaped by its own internal dealings as well as that outside interaction.

Distrust surfaced as an issue in recent weeks. First, some local leaders criticized corporate filings showing the Senecas' planned Buffalo Creek Casino targeted a local clientele more exclusively than Seneca leaders indicated publicly. Then a potential land-ownership footprint the Senecas adopted showed a bigger parcel than the Nation's already-purchased site, which Seneca President Barry E. Snyder Sr. and others said ended the Nation's site-buying plans. Next, Sabres playoff games are interspersed with slick sun breaking through the clouds TV ads for how much good the casino will bring Buffalo."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Seneca policies benefit the few (The Buffalo News 4/27)