Seneca Nation launches campaign ahead of gaming compact talks

Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·3 min read

Jul. 16—In anticipation of entering into negotiations over a new gaming compact with the state of New York, the Seneca Nation of Indians has launched a campaign aimed at spreading awareness about Seneca history and the nation's contributions to the local economy.

During a press conference on Friday outside Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo, Seneca Nation leaders, employees and supporters gathered to discuss the campaign, which is themed "#StandWithSeneca."

"Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino is one example of how the Seneca Nation has helped to reshape and restore the economic landscape in Western New York," said Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels. "Historic private investment, jobs for local residents, and business opportunities for local companies are just part of the legacy the Seneca Nation continues to create. We want our neighbors to understand what the Seneca Nation means to Western New York, and how our success is felt in every corner of our region."

The current gaming compact, which covers operations at the nation's three Western New York gaming sites, including Seneca Niagara Casino, expires in December.

Under the current Compact, Seneca officials said the nation has sent nearly $2 billion in payments to Albany, with hundreds of millions of dollars going to support local governments, including the City of Niagara Falls.

The campaign will involve paid television and radio advertisements, billboards in select markets, social media messaging and engagement and community outreach. The television ads, which will begin airing in the Buffalo area in the coming weeks, focus on the economic role the Seneca Nation plays in the region. Seneca leaders also announced the launch of a new website, StandWithSeneca.com.

Seneca officials said, including its casino and government operations and business enterprises, the nation currently employs more than 5,000 people. They also said employees of Seneca one Stop stores and other Nation-owned entities earned about $222 million in annual wages. Nation entities spend more than $360 million with local vendors each year, according to Seneca representatives.

"The economic statistics are impressive, but they only tell part of the story," said Kevin Nephew, President & CEO Of Seneca Gaming Corporation, one of the region's largest private employers. "Their true impact is felt in the living rooms of the thousands of Western New Yorkers who work in our facilities. For our co-workers, the statistics represent the groceries they buy for their family, the mortgage payment on their home, their children's tuition, and every other part of life that their paychecks help make possible."

Along with the economic impacts, the #StandWithSeneca campaign will focus on the Seneca Nation's history as one of the nations of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, and its centuries-long efforts to defend its sovereignty and its home lands against repeated attacks from other governments, including several attempts to remove the Seneca people from Western New York.

"Tomorrow is 716 Day, a day when Western New Yorkers have come to celebrate the many unique aspects and the spirit of our region," President Pagels added. "The Seneca Nation is Western New York. We want our friends and neighbors to stand with us in our fight for fairness, so that we can continue to deliver for our region and sustain our people for generations. Western New York is our home — always, still and forever."