Niagara Falls Bets on More Gaming Amid Casino Spat: Muni Credit
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Niagara Falls, New York, lost its budget reserves and best bond rating since the 1970s amid a dispute over casino revenue between the state and the Seneca Nation of Indians. Now the city is betting even more gambling will bolster its credit.
New York’s biggest Indian tribe stopped paying the state 22 percent of its slot-machine revenue in 2009 after nontribal lottery terminals were allowed inside its 10,500-square-mile exclusivity zone. With the two sides locked in arbitration, Governor Andrew Cuomo wants a rival casino for Niagara Falls. The move is supported by the city’s mayor, Paul Dyster, who said the revenue loss triggered a “full-blown cash-flow crunch.”