By JAMES FINK
Business First

A consortium of casino opponents has filed its third federal lawsuit seeking to close down the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, alleges that the downtown Buffalo slots-only casino operation does not sit on sovereign Indian territory and that even if it were on sovereign land, gaming is not allowed on the 9.5-acre South Park Avenue site.

The lawsuit names Philip Hogen, National Indian Gaming Commission chairman; Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior; and President Barack Obama as defendants. The Seneca Nation of Indians and its Seneca Gaming Corp. affiliate are not listed as defendants, although they operate the casino under the terms of a 2002 compact the Indian tribe signed with New York state.

"Why do we need a third lawsuit?" asked Albany attorney Cornelius Murray, lead counsel for the Citizens for a Better Buffalo, lead plaintiff. "This could be the final lawsuit to close all the legal loopholes that the Seneca Indians tried to sneak through."

Neither the Seneca Nation of Indians nor the Seneca Gaming Corp. commented on the lawsuit.

Last year, in a pair of rulings, U.S. District Court Judge Hon. William Skretny said that while the land is sovereign territory, the NIGC's green-lighting of the casino operations was "arbitrary and capricious."

Skretny ordered the casino to be closed, but a January ruling from the National Indian Gaming Commission allowed casino gaming to continue at the site.

Critics say the casino will harm the community by creating human-services issues related to gambling addiction and consumer debt and serving as an economic drain on downtown Buffalo's already fragile economy.

Casino supporters argue that the casino is an economic-development engine for Western New York. Seneca Gaming reports having created more than 4,000 jobs since 2002, most with an annual salary above $36,000.

Seneca Gaming began construction on a $333 million full-scale casino and hotel on the site, but halted the project last August, citing the weakened national and local economy.

Casino opponents remain frustrated that Seneca Buffalo Creek remains open.

"We have won two lawsuits, yet the bills are still going in their machines," said Dianne Bennett, Citizens for a Better Buffalo president.

Former Rep. John LaFalce, a vocal casino opponent, said the Buffalo land, which the Senecas acquired four years ago, is not gaming-eligible and may not be sovereign territory.

LaFalce is highly critical of the Seneca Nation's continued efforts to use NIGC rulings to circumvent the rulings from Skretny.

"It is this perversion and corruption of the law and the judicial process that disturbs me the most," LaFalce said. "We've had two decisions that say what they are doing is illegal, yet those decisions and courts are mocked with impunity. The law is being mocked. The judicial system is being mocked."

The Buffalo casino is one of three Seneca Gaming operates in the region under the terms of the 2002 compact. The others are the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls and Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca.