Under the terms of the original compact, the Senecas turn over 25 percent of
slot machine revenues at its casinos; the state keeps most of it and provides an allotment from two different pots — estimated at some $ 35 million annually — to the municipalities.
The state was getting 25 percent of annual
slot machine revenues at the tribe's three casinos, which it then shared — at different rates — with Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Salamanca and 16 counties in the western part of the state.
The Senecas say they are abiding by the terms of the compact the tribe signed in 2002, which they say called for the tribe to share a quarter of
slot machine revenues at the three casinos in Western New York.
Not exact matches
The total is about seven percent of what the Oneida Nation realizes, from
slot machine revenues,
at Yellow Brick Road Casino.
After the latest controversy, Cuomo's aides ordered the state Lottery Division to withhold
slot machine payments earned
at Aqueduct race track, worth about $ 3 million dollars a month, starving the financially shaky NYRA from a vital source of
revenue.
The payment, which county officials said was due March 31, comes from
revenue from video
slot machines at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The settlement also calls for the Oneidas to pay 25 percent of the
revenues from its 2,000
slot machines at Turning Stone.
The Senecas and the state are in arbitration over the $ 572 million in
revenue sharing payments being withheld because the Senecas say the state violated the compact by allowing
slot machines at racetracks.
Casino
revenue sharing stopped several years ago with the Senecas claiming their exclusivity agreement was violated by the state allowing
slot machines at race tracks.