Professor: No dice on Seneca Nation casino in Buffalo

Thursday, January 18, 2007  

"The bottom line on US District Court Judge William M. Skretny’s 51-page January 12 decision in the Buffalo casino case is this: The nine-acre parcel of land in downtown Buffalo on which the Seneca Nation of Indians wants to build a casino never received the kind of examination from the federal government that would determine whether or not it was in the category of Indian land on which gambling could occur. Absent an adequate determination, no casino gambling can occur in Buffalo.

There was no question, Judge Skretny said, that the Senecas owned the downtown land. But there is a huge difference between land Indians own and land that meets the legal requirements for casino gambling. The Senecas can build anything they like on their downtown Buffalo property—hotel, school, hospital, sphinx, casino, anything at all. But they cannot gamble on that land or invite anyone else to gamble on it. If they build a casino in spite of Judge Skretny’s decision, as some of their spokesmen have said is their plan, they risk pouring money into an enterprise even more pointless than the slot machines their clients so dearly love. But unlike most of their customers, they’ve got lots of money and perhaps can afford to squander it in a pointless public gesture.

Judge Skretny reversed and remanded the National Indian Gaming Commission’s (NIGC) 2002 determination that it was “Indian Land” (which is specifically defined by federal law) and therefore gambling-eligible land as “arbitrary and capricious.” He sent the determination back to the NIGC, saying this time they had to give it a serious rather than a cursory look, which means this time the commission will have to say what parts, if any, of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA), which controls all gambling in Indian land, applies to the Senecas’ downtown Buffalo purchase.

That act prohibits, with very few exceptions, gambling on Indian land acquired after October 18, 1988. If the NIGC decides the land is in fact Indian land, and if that land falls under one of the few exceptions, gambling will be allowed—at which point casino opponents will be back in court challenging that determination. If the NIGC decides the Seneca purchase is not Indian land, the Senecas will in all likelihood be in court challenging that rejection of their request.

Until the commission determines whether or not the Senecas’ ownership of the land is included or is excluded by the restrictive section of the IGRA, the parcel is just land that the Seneca Nation owns, nothing more."

Get the Story:
Bruce Jackson: No Deal on the Buffalo Casino (Artvoice 1/18)