The mayor of Rochester, New York, said he's open to a
Seneca Nation off-reservation casino as long as it's not in the downtown area.
The tribe has long expressed an interest in Rochester and has asked for a casino there in order to settle a Class III gaming compact dispute.
“I don’t want it in the center of town. When you put a casino somewhere, you change the whole dynamic of that place. Maybe that’s good, maybe that’s what you want. I don’t think we want that downtown,” Mayor Thomas Richards told members of the media, The White Plains Journal News reported.
The tribe currently operates off-reservation casinos in downtown Buffalo and in downtown Niagara Falls.
There's also a casino on the Allegany Reservation.
The tribe has withheld $572 million from the state in a dispute over the exclusivity provisions in the compact. The tribe says the state has allowed an expansion of non-Indian gaming.
Get the Story:
Rochester Mayor Urges Calm Over Potential City Casino
(The White Plains Journal News 2/7)
Senecas Reportedly Pushing For Downtown Rochester Casino
(WHAM-TV 2/7)
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Seneca Nation asks for off-reservation
casino in dispute talks (2/7)
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