Albany, N.Y. — The Oneida Nation is warning that the state’s current proposal for legal mobile sports betting could violate an eight-year-old agreement granting the nation exclusive gaming rights in Central New York.
That could lead the Oneidas to stop paying the roughly $70 million they send each year to the state and local governments under the settlement reached in 2013. More than $20 million of that goes to local governments in a 10-county region of Central New York, including Onondaga County.
A plan to allow New Yorkers to make sports bets through their smartphones or other devices is currently under debate as lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo try to reach a deal on the 2021-2022 state budget, which was due last week.
The most recent version of the budget plan appears to allow online bets to be placed exclusively through servers located at Upstate New York’s four commercial (non-Indian) casinos. That would exclude the state’s tribal casino operators, which include the Oneidas along with the Senecas in western New York and the Akwesasne Moawks in northern New York.
The Oneidas would consider such a plan a violation of its 2013 exclusivity settlement, a source familiar with the nation’s thinking told syracuse.com. The state would be in breach of the settlement, and the Oneidas would be within their rights to suspend payments, the source said.
The 2013 Oneida settlement included references to mobile sports betting, the Oneida source said, although it’s not clear that applies to the state’s other tribal agreements.
The Oneidas have proposed waiving their exclusivity over mobile wagering if the state agrees to let them place a server at one of the commercial casinos, but that has not yet made it into any plan, the source said.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente expressed his concern with the current developments in this Twitter message today:
“The proposed breach of one of the most historic settlement agreements in #NewYork’s history would result in huge tax increases & the destruction of 1000s of full-time jobs in #OneidaCounty,” Picente said. “NYS needs to honor the 2013 settlement in its negotiations on online sports betting.”
Under the 2013 settlement, the Oneidas send the state 25% of the annual revenues from the slot machines at the casinos they operate in Oneida and Madison counties. The Oneidas have exclusive gaming rights in Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and Otsego counties.
Of the $70 million total, more than $17 million goes to Oneida County and its local government and more than $3.5 million to Madison County and its local governments.
Nearly $4 million goes to Onondaga County, which has been using that revenue to pay off the bonds used to build the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater on Onondaga Lake. The other counties in the exclusive zone also receive payments.
If the state approves a mobile sports betting plan that excludes the Oneidas, an alternative to suspending the payments could be to create a “geofencing” perimeter around the nation’s 10-county region. That would block bettors in that area from being able to connect to servers outside the region.
That alternative drew criticism last week from officials around Central New York, including Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente and State Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome.
They argue it would be unfair to block online bets from more than 1 million residents in that region while it is allowed elsewhere in the state.
Cuomo and lawmakers have been at odds over how to manage online bets. Cuomo initially preferred a tightly controlled model that would operate like the State Lottery. Many leading lawmakers prefer allowing multiple vendors to take online bets through servers housed at Upstate New York’s four commercial (non Indian) casinos.
Sports betting came to New York in 2019. Under the current rules, bets can only be placed in person at lounges located at the four commercial casinos and the seven commercial casinos operated by the Oneida, Seneca and Akwesasne Mohawk nations.
The Oneidas host sports betting lounges, in partnership with Caesars Sports, at Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, Point Place Casino in Bridgeport and Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango.
Related:
Mobile sports bets, more casinos and lower taxes: Hot gaming topics in NY budget debate
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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