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By: Mario Mancini
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration took steps in several recent disputes involving lucrative upstate gambling rights that were in line with the interests of Delaware North, where hubby Bill Hochul works, according to an exclusive report by The New York Post.
Just last month, the governor agreed to a last-minute tweak to the state budget to restructure the public-private board overseeing western New York’s Batavia Downs hotel and casino, a competitor of the multibillion-dollar firm where Bill Hochul is senior counsel, the New York Times said.
While Delaware North says it is no longer interested in acquiring Batavia, the restructuring could presumably make such a move easier, the report from The New York Times states, although acknowledging there is no evidence Hochul or her husband has done any wrongdoing in any of the cases.
The board’s restructuring came after the Hochul administration froze $564 million in assets of the Seneca Nation — another Delaware North rival — and used $418 million of the money last year for a new stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in her hometown.
According to the governor’s office, the state froze Seneca’s assets last year because the company failed to keep up payments that were part of an agreement to pay off overdue revenues and defaulted.
Delaware North was reportedly in line for the concessions contract at the new Bills venue, although the stadium’s overseers have since said that they will award the contract to another company in 2026.
“What the governor did was literally putting politics over people,” Seneca President Matthew Pagels alleged in November to The New York Post.
“It will never be forgotten what happened,” Pagels claimed.
Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia and Counsel Liz Fine are to handle the final agreement — which Hochul would have to sign off on, the Buffalo outlet said.
Hochul made a big show in 2021 of signing a recusal agreement for any dealings involving Delaware North, although there is no record that the document was ever sent to the state ethics board.
In a statement Sunday, JC Seneca, a member of the Seneca council, said that coming up with a new gambling agreement with the state “should have been negotiated sooner” but that Hochul’s ties to rival Delaware North through her husband “certainly makes negotiations more difficult than they should be.
“If the governor is not at the negotiating table [because of recusals}, it makes things much more difficult,” Seneca said.
William Hochul, who is vice president and head counsel at Delaware North, earned more than $650,000 from the company last year, the bulk of the $1 million the Hochuls made, tax returns show.
In a statement Sunday to The New York Post, the governor’s office denied any possible impropriety in dealings involving Delaware North.
The far-left NY Times which bends over backwards to defend any Democrat at any cost reported on this as well.
The Times wrote:
There is no evidence that Ms. Hochul has used her influence with the intent to help Delaware North. But in three recent cases involving matters relating to gambling or concessions, the state took actions that aligned with the interests of her husband’s company.
Seven months after Ms. Hochul became governor, she said it was time for the state to play “hardball” with the Seneca Nation of Indians, Delaware North’s biggest competitor in the Buffalo gambling market.
