"Who wouldn’t be excited by the prospect of a $333 million hotel complex in Buffalo? The plan announced by the Seneca Nation of Indians this week looks like a welcome addition to the development boom that seems to be coming to the downtown waterfront.

The problem, partly Buffalo’s and partly the Senecas’, is that this is not just a top-flight hotel. It is the partner to the Nation’s planned three-story, 90,000-square-foot casino, one whose legality is being challenged in federal court.

We don’t think gambling is a good thing for society, or for Buffalo in particular.

We have maintained that the best place for another compact- approved casino is Niagara Falls, a tourist city already drawing outside money and a place that could perhaps benefit from the kind of critical mass common in Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City.

But — and it’s a big qualifier — the Seneca Nation is a soverign nation that has struck a deal with the state and its elected officials. And it has approval for its casinos from the National Indian Gaming Commission, the federal agency that regulates Native American gambling. Barring lawsuit success, the last stand is seeking the best possible casino complex, if casino there must be."

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Editorial: Senecas roll the dice (The Buffalo News 10/6)