By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Federal Court Judge William Skretny who previously ruled a downtown casino could not legally operate has reversed course based on a new federal government analysis. Skretny is now saying the January 20th decision of the National Indian Gaming Commission is valid. It permits gambling on land the Seneca Nation purchased in the Cobblestone District.
"This new analysis is presumed valid unless and until it becomes the subject of a successful legal challenge," Skretny wrote in a four-page decision.
The group Citizens Against Casino Gambling had asked Skretny to order the temporary Buffalo Creek Casino immediately closed based on his July finding that the NIGC erred in approving the casino in the first place. But on the final day of the Bush Administration, NIGC Chairman Philip Hogen reaffirmed that the casino was legal based on a new interpretation of Indian gaming law adopted by the U.S. Interior Department in June.
Skretny said Hogen's finding rendered moot the casino opponents' request to have the casino closed based on the July ruling.
"We understand Judge Skretny's concern that this latest ordinance was technically not before him in the current lawsuit and, therefore, a new legal challenge is required," Cornelius Murray, lawyer for Citizens Against Casino Gambling, said in a prepared statement. "Our clients have every intention of bringing that challenge as soon as the proper legal papers are assembled. This time we are confident that we can obtain a definitive final ruling that will leave the NIGC no escape."
The Senecas called it a significant win in what has been a long and complex legal dispute.
"What Judge Skretny ruled today fundamentally changes the parameters of this case against our casino in downtown Buffalo and the revenue and jobs it will provide," said Seneca President Barry Snyder Sr. "He endorsed that the rules under which it now operates are new and unrelated to any of his previous decisions that said it should not operate."
The Senecas are operating a small, temporary gaming facility that opened in July. The Nation halted construction of the permanent Buffalo Creek Casino last August because of the poor economy. A statement issued after Friday's ruling did not address when construction might resume. The Buffalo casino is one of three western