To be honest it couldn't happen to a better group of people. They ran the place like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Waste Management ect.
What kind of controls did they have in place to prevent being defrauded in the Golf Course Deal?
They have liens filed as they stiffed contractors
and I have first hand knowledge of them treating their employees like utter shit. Do you think that a place that is being investigated by the IRS for numerous violations is going to just easily fork over the 200 Million that the state is asking for?
They should have hired Harrah's or Penn National to run their casino back in 2002. Mickey Brown and his team did a fantastic job in building up the brand and getting the hotel project started. Instead they ran it like a lemon-aid stand with a cigar box as a cash register.
It should be interesting to see what happens. The only reason why the state entered into this agreement was due to the fact that the State needed cash desperately after 9/11 and passed the compact in the middle of the night. Without the 200 Million, What's the point of allowing it to operate especially with the cigarette issue still at the forefront?
Nothing good ever came out of that place, and I won't shed a tear if the state troopers/National Guard surround the perimeter and not allow anyone in/out of their territory in downtown Niagara Falls.
I guess after all Joel Rose was right after all.
If they had an issue with VLT's they should have brought it up back in 2005 When Buffalo Raceway/Fairgrounds/Hamburg Casino and Batavia Downs installed them. Why did they wait 5 years to make a stink about VLT's Oh yeah the Cig issue.
This issue is so complex really. The Claim by the natives is that slots at racetracks violate the deal they made with the state and my guess is, that it does. What started this entire thing is that Albany is corrupt that money just vanishes. Well the other thing is that western NY pays for the city tax wise. So then they go and try to tax the gas and cigs. Now here is the thing yes it is true that the natives don't have to pay sales tax but that doesn't mean the white man doesn't have to. If you go into say Canada you have to pay a duty. How would you enforce tax on mail orders though. This entire thing with the Casino didn't become an issue until the cig tax was one. I'm not anti casino but the deals that where made for the native ones where bad. They tried to make them legal before the Falls in Canada even had any but it got voted down (the rumor at the time was trump through money at it to make it fail). See if you had legal Casinos then you get all the tax money and you could get companies like the Hardrock Cafe (in Canada) or other companies who would run them, then you could have had multiple ones that would bring people from out of town.
I have another theory as to way that didn't happen. It would hurt the states real casino the lottery. No one really knows how much money goes into that and how much comes out. Yeah you can claim you loses on your taxes but not sure how many people really do. I think the lottery hurts way more people then a casino can. So many people with out money play it on a daily, they win a bit and think great now I have money, but if they just kept that money they spent they would have more then they won, but when cash goes away quick I get why they play.........