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On Friday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie tweeted that a bill authorizing Gov. Kathy Hochul to enter a new Seneca Nation Compact would not be on the Assembly’s agenda.
Buffalo News file photo
ALBANY – A lucrative gaming agreement between the Seneca Nation and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration has unraveled in recent days, capped by a statement from the Nation’s president accusing Hochul of “utter disregard” for the process.
The lengthy and strident statement, released by Seneca President Rickey Armstrong Sr. late Friday, came in reaction to news that the Assembly would not take up a bill this week allowing Hochul to enter a new agreement with the Nation.
On Friday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie tweeted that as the Assembly returned to Albany this week to tackle unfinished business from the 2023 legislative session, a bill authorizing Hochul to enter a new Seneca Nation Compact – which already passed the Senate – would not be on the Assembly’s agenda.
“I believe the Seneca Nation deserves a fair deal,” Heastie tweeted. “However, the sentiment of the Assembly’s Monroe County delegation – coupled with the potential loss of union jobs – is concerning, and we cannot move forward with a vote on the compact at this time.”
Under an “agreement in principle” struck June 7 between the Nation and Hochul administration, a Seneca-owned casino would be allowed in the “Rochester market” in Monroe County.
The planned Rochester casino was initially kept secret from both state lawmakers and the public. But rumor of the casino began circulating in Albany on the evening of June 9, enraging Rochester elected officials and an influential hotel and gaming union.

Top Hochul officials did not deny that a Rochester casino was part of a deal with the Seneca Nation, and on Saturday, the Assembly refused to pass the bill authorizing Hochul to enter a new compact.
The current gaming agreement between New York and the Nation expires Dec. 9. The Legislature must pass a bill authorizing Hochul to enter a new compact, but will likely now seek to impose many more conditions on the parties in the coming months.
Union poll
Opposition from Rochester lawmakers may only harden considering a poll conducted in recent days.
The poll, which was shared on Monday with The News, was conducted by Tulchin Research and paid for by the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, a union that opposes a new Seneca casino in the Rochester area. The union represents nearly 1,000 workers at the del Lago Resort and Casino, about 47 miles east of downtown Rochester.
The telephone poll of 500 registered votes in Monroe County had a 4.4% margin of error, according to the union. It found that 55% of respondents were aware of the Rochester casino issue.
After being told publicly available information about the agreement, including that Rochester officials were not informed of it, 58% of respondents were opposed to the agreement, while 31% were in favor.
Finally, respondents were asked if they would feel more or less favorable toward a public official who supported the agreement as currently proposed. Fifty-eight percent felt less favorable, while only 12% felt more favorable, according to the union.
“This poll confirms that the Assembly made the right decision not to bring this bill up for a vote,” said Austin Shafran, a union spokesman. “This is clear evidence of a high level of of voter awareness and voter opposition to a compact that includes a new casino in Monroe County, which we know would also hurt almost 1,000 good union jobs in the region.”
In recent conversations with opponents of a Rochester casino, Hochul officials have cited a “study” showing that such a casino would not undercut existing casinos in the region.
The Hochul administration has declined to share a copy of the study with The News. But Hochul’s office confirmed that the state has “commissioned studies to help determine the value of an exclusivity agreement.”
There was a different state-commissioned study, released two years ago, concluding that the upstate gaming market was already oversaturated.
For that study, the State Gaming Commission hired a firm called Spectrum Gaming Group. The study, released in January 2021, found there was potential for growth in the gaming market in New York City and Long Island, where the state is currently considering licensing three new casinos. But in upstate New York, according to the study, “all of the methods of analysis indicate substantial over-saturation.”
Hochul’s office says its studies are “totally different” from the Spectrum study, since the Spectrum study was not focused on the entry of a new Native American-owned casino into the market.
Casino leak
Armstrong’s statement on Friday also raises new questions about the Hochul administration’s explanation for why it needed to keep details of compact agreement secret.
On the evening on June 9, Rochester lawmakers pressed the Hochul administration for answers. Did the agreement really include a casino in downtown Rochester?
Top Hochul officials responded that they were barred from discussing the terms of the deal because of a “non-disclosure agreement,” but did not deny the rumor, either.
On Friday, Armstrong said no such non-disclosure agreement ever existed. Armstrong said there was an “agreement” with Hochul’s office not to leak details of the ongoing negotiations to the media, but that the confidentiality provision did not bar sharing details with the State Legislature.

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“The Executive and the Nation agreed not to negotiate through the press or in public, but contrary to media coverage, the parties never entered into a Non-Disclosure Agreement,” Armstrong said. “The Nation regularly consulted our own legislative branch, and expected that the Executive was doing the same. The Executive’s claim that it was legally barred from communicating with other State officials is simply inaccurate. The Executive was free to communicate with local officials throughout the process, on what it was negotiating for and what it agreed to. The failure of the Executive to communicate with its own government speaks to the utter disregard the Governor had for this process.”
Hochul’s office declined to say whether it ever had any written confidentiality agreement with the Seneca Nation, or to address whether that agreement barred the Hochul administration from speaking with members of the State Legislature.
Hochul’s office said it had a “clear agreement with the Senecas that negotiations were confidential. They requested confidentiality, in part so that they could brief the members of their Council instead of having them read about it in the press.”
What’s next?
Under the original compact struck between the Nation and state in 2002, the Nation has in recent years been paying 25% of revenues on slot machines in exchange for the exclusive right to offer these devices west of State Route 14.
Under the deal struck with Hochul’s office on June 7, the Nation agreed to pay 19.5% of gaming revenue to New York State during the final 19 years of the agreement. If the Rochester casino is not allowed by the Legislature, it’s likely that the Seneca Nation will seek to pay a much lower rate.
Amid the opposition from Rochester, the Seneca Nation did not say whether it would now reopen negotiations. A Hochul spokeswoman said only that, “Administration staff is working with the Seneca Nation of Indians and the Legislature to make sure we have an agreement that is fair, serves the interests of all parties, and addresses the needs of key stakeholders.”
It’s also unclear whether the tone of Armstrong’s lengthy statement on Friday could impact such negotiations: A lengthy portion accused Hochul’s office of operating in a manner that favored Delaware North, the company where Hochul’s husband is a top executive. Citing a potential conflict of interest, Hochul has recused herself from the compact negotiations, although records show she has taken at least one concrete action concerning the matter recently.
In that instance, Hochul’s action went against the interests of Delaware North, which competes with the Seneca Nation’s three casinos and publicly opposed a new Rochester casino last week.
On June 9, Hochul issued “message of necessity” allowing the legislative fast-tracking of the bill allowing her to enter the compact agreement negotiated by her aides.
Under the state constitution, bills normally must age three days before being voted upon, but Hochul bypassed the process using an exemption. That allowed a Senate vote within one day of the bill’s introduction in that chamber. Her office said that under the state constitution, messages of necessity cannot be delegated to staff.
The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday.
Albany Bureau Chief
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On Friday, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie tweeted that a bill authorizing Gov. Kathy Hochul to enter a new Seneca Nation Compact would not be on the Assembly’s agenda.
Buffalo News file photo
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