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Senecas Plan Casino in Cheektowaga
A new casino planned near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is
projected to be the most lucrative of three casinos the Seneca Indians
will operate, tribal officials said.
The Seneca Tribal Council on Saturday approved the purchase of 57
acres near the airport to build a casino that will be about twice as
large as its casino in Niagara Falls. Tribal leaders hope to open the
new casino by New Year’s Eve, but said it may not be ready until next
spring.
"The studies show Cheektowaga is going to be our biggest gaming spot,
with the most revenues coming in," Bergal L. Mitchell, a member of the
Tribal Council and the board of the Seneca Gaming Corp., told The
Buffalo News in Sunday’s edition.
The land purchase ends speculation that the Senecas would open their
third and final casino in Buffalo. The tribe is getting ready to open
a casino on reservation land in Salamanca and opened one in Niagara
Falls on Dec. 31, 2002.
Both state government and the U.S. Department of the Interior must
approve various aspects of the Cheektowaga casino plan.
There remains opposition to the planned casino. "This is not
acceptable, and we will never accept it," Joel Rose, co-chairman of
Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County, said in a news
release Saturday.
Business owners and developers in Buffalo, who had hoped the casino
would be built in that city rather than in the suburbs, are urging
Gov. George Pataki and Interior Secretary Gale Norton to halt plans
for the Cheektowaga site.
Carl Paladino, a Buffalo developer, has vowed to file a lawsuit based
on the original 2001 "memorandum of understanding" between the Senecas
and the state in which Buffalo was specifically mentioned as the
location for one of three Seneca casinos.
Seneca Tribal Council Chairman Barry Snyder said the Senecas were
frustrated that Erie County and Buffalo officials never came up with a
concrete proposal, and ultimately decided Cheektowaga was the best
bet.
Read the
entire article at:
Newsday.com
2004 Online Casino News Archive
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