Despite the fact that the land it is built on is still American, specifically New York State soil, and not that of an independent sovereign nation, the legality of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino is still being debated today. Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Executive Chris Collins have voiced their support for the casino, formally requesting in federal court Tuesday that the gambling house not be forced to close its doors.
The aspect of land ownership seems to make this debate moot. Reservation land, where most Native American casinos are built, is not technically part of the U.S. They can make their own laws, including the legalization of gambling. That said, the land that the Seneca nation has purchased is just that: purchased land in a country, that has, at least in this state, made gambling illegal.
The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino generates about $27 million for local shareholders, and the fees paid to New York State to keep doors open totaled approximately $109 million this year.
But vice attracts vice. Gambling can kick start drug markets, prostitution and various other lucrative forms of organized crime. That's lot of money pumping itself into the local economy.
It's also a lot of crime. The casino in question is positioned within walking distance of an incredibly poor area of Buffalo, and it's hard to think that that isn't intentional. After all, wouldn't the folks in Amherst have more money to burn? Is this another thinly-veiled attempt to keep the lowest rungs of the social ladder exactly where they are?
At what point does the government's responsibility to protect its citizens cross the line from actual protection to moral dictation? Is it acceptable to protect the people from themselves? Or is one of the fundamental rights of human existence the right to make one's own moral choices?
This could be a great turn for the region, or it could be a cancer. If this establishment is allowed to keep its doors open, it will really be the responsibility of the citizenry, as are so many other things.
Cure or cancer, the blame will rest with us.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
