Seneca Nation wants to join casino lawsuit

Tuesday, June 16, 2009  

The Seneca Nation has agreed to waive its sovereign immunity in order to join a lawsuit over its off-reservation casino in Buffalo, New York.

The tribe was participating in the case through friend of the court briefs. But it wants to be named as an intervenor-defendant to advocate for its interests in the Buffalo Creek Casino.

"This lawsuit is a direct threat to the Seneca Nation of Indians and the right of its people to develop, grow and protect our economic well-being," President Barry E. Snyder Sr. said in a statement quoted by The Buffalo News.

Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County, Citizens for a Better Buffalo and other opponents sued the National Indian Gaming Commission for approving the casino. They say the gaming site can't be used for gaming because it doesn't qualify as "Indian land" under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

In the final days of the Bush administration, the NIGC said the new "Indian land" regulations don't apply in the Seneca case because the tribe acquired the gaming site in restricted fee status.

The tribe built another off-reservation casino, in Niagara Falls, on similarly acquired land.

Get the Story:
Senecas ask inclusion as defendants in suit against downtown casino (The Buffalo News 6/16)
Senecas want more say in Buffalo casino challenge (AP 6/16)
Falls casino expansion on hold (The Niagara Gazette 6/16)