The Oneida Indian Nation filed on Tuesday yet another lawsuit in a bid to prevent the $425-million Lago Resort & Casino from opening doors in Seneca County. If launched, the hotel and casino complex will be a direct competition to Turning Stone Resort Casino, managed by the Oneidas.
The New York-based tribe’s lawsuit is against Lago itself, its developer – Thomas Wilmot, and the New York State Gaming Commission, which granted the casino resort the necessary license in December 2015.
The Oneidas contended that the construction of Lago would hurt the existing casinos in Upstate New York. Casino Free Tyre, a local group of opponents of the resort, joined the tribe in its effort to block the multi-million-dollar project and to nullify the state gambling regulator’s decision to grant it the above-mentioned casino license.
The 60-page lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan court and stated that the State Gaming Facility Location Board made the wrong choice by recommending the Lago plan as neither the selection process, nor the results were legal.
Apart from the Oneidas, the existing Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack in Farmington, New York has also previously filed a lawsuit against Mr. Wilmot’s project. However, it was dismissed by court.
Commenting on the new legal hurdle before Lago Resort & Casino, spokesman Steve Greenberg said that the lawsuit is likely to be unsuccessful, just as the ones filed before. Mr. Greenberg pointed out that Lago has faced eight different lawsuits so far and they were mostly sponsored by the Oneidas.
Construction on the hotel and casino resort has already begun and it is expected to be launched early in 2017. Mr. Greenberg further noted that the project and its license are the result from a “thorough, transparent, objective and independent review.”
On December 17,2014, Mr. Wilmot’s project was selected from a total of three casino candidates for New York’s Southern Tier/Finger Lakes region. The New York State Gaming Facility Location Board also gave the nod to Rivers Casino & Resort at Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor and Montreign Resort Casino in Thompson. All three projects received the necessary license from the Gaming Commission last month and are expected to be completed within the next two years.
Once operational, the three venues would generate more than $265 million in revenue to the state and 3,200 permanent jobs for residents.
