The Secret Deal for a Tribal Casino and Why It Imploded

For months, talks over a new casino deal between New York State and the Seneca Nation of Indians have been at an impasse, with the two sides deadlocked over the size of the state’s cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling revenue, and what the tribe would get in return.

With a few precious hours left before state lawmakers were set to break for the year, that suddenly seemed set to change: Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has faced questions over her husband’s ties to commercial gambling interests, tried to fast-track a bill that would have given her administration blanket authority to negotiate a new compact with the Native American nation — and cut out the scrutiny that accompanied the old one.

But now the effort, marked as it was by secrecy and a lack of consultation with virtually anyone besides tribal leaders, has backfired spectacularly. It has alienated local officials and gambling and labor interests that are powerful forces in New York State politics and left the state and the Senecas no closer to a new casino compact.