Niagara Falls Will Be ‘Broke by December’ Due to Seneca ...

Not sure if this will help someone in the future but hopefully it does. The main attraction of going to Niagara Falls was going to my favorite band Collective Soul that were playing at Seneca Casino on the American side. Since it was a bit much of a drive back I decided to go down and spend the night down there. Plus I wanted to visit the Canadian side and do some fun stuff.
Finding a hotel without losing an arm and a leg was easily the hardest part. I ended up going with the Econo Lodge By The Falls on Victoria Avenue. I was able to get 15% through my college's alumini so it came to about $157 where as some hotels nearby were asking $300.00 or more. Due to the price and since it was close to the attractions made it worthwhile for me but the room was pretty basic. The TV only had 10 channels and the picture was a bit fuzzy for instance. The one thing people might want to look at is find a hotel further away from the area and just park there as there didn't seem to be any shortage of parking.
I did get the Clifton Hills Fun Pass and each one were okay. I wasn't blown away by them as an adult but they are geared towards kids. I ended up doing some of them after the concert since they were open until 1 am. I was still surprised to see how busy the place was at midnight and still lots of kids were running around at that time.
For getting over the border I actually walked over the bridge. It cost a $1 to get into the States while it cost nothing to get back into Canada. There was a short 5 to 10 minute wait to speak to an agent on both ends for me. The casino was big and really nice looking so it was a bit strange to find the concert being held in a conference room with conference room chairs. They were comfy though.
The one other note is on the way down the QEW was stop and go in around the Hamilton area which added an extra 30-45 minutes to the drive. On the way back I had no slowdowns.

The 2014 Seneca Niagara Fall Poker Classic has begun and even though it will run in parallel with the World Series of Poker Main Even final table, the two tournaments won't compete for players. The latter will begin with just nine participants, as the final table was decided earlier this summer, with the winners to claim millions of dollars. By comparison, those who play in the 2014 Seneca Niagara Fall Poker Classic are competing for smaller payouts, making the tournament a target for beginners and amateurs. The opening event brought together 144 players, with each of them paying the buy-in of $500, which led to a prize pool of more than $60,000. One by one, the few poker professionals were eliminated from the race and the final table began later the same day, with Scott Hosbach leading the pack. He decided to play sheriff and push opponents around, which worked for a while, as he caused the untimely elimination of three opponents. As the number of surviving players was reduced to just six of them, action slowed down considerably and Scott started to bleed chips. Some of his peers took advantage and consolidated their position, which explains why the remaining four players were so evenly matched. Immediately after Scott Gaddi was eliminated in the fifth-place, the surviving players realized that could go either way. Instead of allowing luck to decide the fate of this tournament, they chose to split the money equally, despite the fact that there were slight differences between their stacks. Once this agreement was made, there was no pressure whatsoever on these four players and action picked up speed, with Scott being once again in control. He made short work of the other three players and sent two of them to the rail, playing the heads up against Shogie Saysamone. A couple of hands later, it was all over and Hosbach claimed the first prize in the opening event of the 2014 Seneca Niagara Fall Poker Classic, even though, he won exactly the same amount as the next three players. This is not the first time that he wins a major tournament, with Scott prevailing at the 2014 Seneca Summer Slam a few months ago. Betfair Poker ran satellites for this tournament and a couple of their members who won these qualifiers, got the chance to participate without actually paying the buy-in. This is how the final table looked like at the 2014 Seneca Niagara Fall Poker Classic: 1 Scott Hosbach $10,3342 Shogie Saysamone $10,3343 Brian McCormick $10,3344 D.J. MacKinnon $10,3345 Scott Gaddi $4,1866 Nick Walker $3,2017 Bob Herman $2,4628 Adam Foster $1,9089 Rob Bourkney $1,53910 Tom MacKinnon $1,262
from
via Casinoreviews

ALBANY – Frustrated by the lack of a casino revenue agreement with the Seneca Nation, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday proposed permitting a new Las Vegas-style casino in Western New York if voters statewide approve a gambling expansion amendment to the state constitution.
If that statewide plan fails, Cuomo proposed locating two gambling halls with slot-like machines in Western New York to compete with the three Seneca casinos.
The dramatic escalation of the state's fight with the Senecas came a day after Seneca President Barry Snyder Sr. called Cuomo a “bully” in between Snyder's meetings with state legislative leaders to try to beat back Cuomo's casino expansion plan. Cuomo officials, according to sources involved in the negotiations, called Snyder's comments the final straw that led to the governor releasing his bill Wednesday with the added Western New York gambling sites to challenge Seneca casino operations.
The casino bill still needs legislative approval and the backing of a separate constitutional amendment change by voters in a statewide referendum as early as this fall.
The bill calls for a “destination resort” casino located in Western New York if the Seneca Nation's 2002 casino compact with the state is not in “good standing.” It does not say who determines such standing, and the Senecas have insisted Cuomo cannot unilaterally impose such a condition.
In addition, the legislation states that two new video lottery terminal facilities, which offer slot-like devices such as those at the Hamburg and Batavia harness tracks, can open in Western New York if voters do not approve the broader statewide casino expansion. The VLT facilities cannot offer table games such as poker, but the existing nine track-based casinos have proven increasingly successful for their operators in recent years.
Both sides said Wednesday evening that negotiations have not broken down and that talks are continuing, but Cuomo has publicly and privately described the progress as nonexistent.
The governor's overall casino plan would locate the first three of seven casinos in upstate regions. He divides upstate into six areas but takes two out of the running – a large swath of Central and Northern New York – because of recent deals he cut with Indian tribes already operating casinos in those areas.
If the Senecas and the state reach a deal to end the dispute that has halted $600 million in tribe revenue-sharing payments to the state and Buffalo, Salamanca and Niagara Falls, the region would be taken off the list of eligible areas for a Class III casino that offers the full array of gambling, except betting on sports.
The additional casino and two possible VLT-only casinos for Western New York would be competitively bid, with the operators chosen by the state Gaming Commission, which Cuomo controls, or a panel appointed by the commission.
The Senecas, under their 2002 compact with New York State, were granted exclusive gambling rights in a large zone that extends from about the middle of the Finger Lakes region to Lake Erie.
While Cuomo proposed a new Class III casino for Western New York if the state and Senecas don't resolve their fight, the two other facilities could only offer video lottery terminals. No table games would be allowed in those facilities, which would only be placed in the region if the Senecas' compact was no longer considered valid.
Cuomo has floated the idea of trying to get a commercial developer to open a casino in downtown Niagara Falls as direct competition to the Seneca Niagara Casino.
Wednesday, Snyder said in an interview with The Buffalo News, in which he twice called Cuomo a “bully,” that the tribe doesn't fear Cuomo's threats and believes that its casino in Niagara Falls would still flourish even with new competition.
Other upstate areas that could have a Las Vegas-style casino would be a part of the Southern Tier, the greater Albany area and the lower Hudson Valley, including the Catskills region. Casinos would be banned in New York City. Other areas of downstate could get one of the remaining four casinos under the seven-casino plan, but not until at least five years after the first upstate casino opens.
The Cuomo plan also calls for casino franchise operators to pay the state at least $50 million in upfront fees and to pay Albany 25 percent of gross gaming revenues. That is less than half the tax rate imposed on racetrack-based casinos, meaning the future gambling operations under the Cuomo plan will be far more lucrative to their owners and provide a smaller percentage of funding to the state than the nine track casinos.
Bettors must be age 21 or older to gamble in the facilities, and, unlike the Indian casinos, gamblers will not be able to smoke in the casinos under the Cuomo plan. The legislation also proposes to ban political contributions by casino applicants to statewide or state legislative officials, and a new Inspector General's Office would be created within the Gaming Commission.
Lawmakers and Cuomo have until June 20 to negotiate the casino bill before the scheduled end of the 2013 legislative session. Lawmakers last year approved a resolution amending the state constitution to permit up to seven new casinos; the same, vague resolution has to be approved again this year if voters are to consider it in November. That 17-word resolution states that casino gambling will be permitted at no more than seven new facilities in the state.
A separate enabling bill, like the one Cuomo proposed Wednesday, is needed to lay out the specifics of how the casino expansion would work; there is nothing to stop future governors or lawmakers from changing those terms if voters approve the casino amendment to the constitution this fall.