Tuesday, July 22, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.
VERONA, N.Y. -- Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter doesn't play games of chance. So when he staked the future of his tribe on building a successful casino, he never really considered it a gamble.
The Turning Stone Casino Resort is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and it has been an inexhaustible jackpot for the Oneidas, transforming the once poverty-stricken, land-poor tribe into a major economic and political force in central New York.
The Oneidas have used their gambling profits to -- among other things -- buy back 16,000 acres of ancestral land, open a chain of gas stations and other businesses, start a police force and provide community services, build new housing and a cultural center, and send dozens of young Oneidas to college.
"To some extent, we believed we would be a success, that we would grow and improve. But I can't tell you that I saw everything we have now," Halbritter said.
True to their word 10 years ago, the Oneidas have turned Turning Stone into "a resort destination that has a casino rather than a casino that hopes to be a resort destination," Halbritter said.
When they finish their latest expansion next year, the tribe will have invested more than $600 million into the 450-acre resort complex 30 miles east of Syracuse.
What started as a small casino that attracted 450,000 people in its first year today is one of the state's top tourist attractions with more than 4.2 million visitors a year.
By the end of 2004, the resort will feature two football fields worth of gaming space, three championship golf courses, three luxury hotels, a European spa, a convention center, a cabaret-style showroom and an events arena.
As the casino has grown, so have the tribe's fortunes.
Where once stood a 32-acre lot of ramshackle trailers, the Oneidas have built modern housing, a cultural center, an elders center, a community center and a health center for their 1,000 enrolled members. Besides gas stations, the Oneidas own a Hollywood film production company, national Indian newspaper, T-shirt printing plant and a factory that manufactures the cashless electronic gaming machines that fill Turning Stone.
"The future has never looked brighter for us," said Halbritter.
While the tribe has unquestionably prospered from the casino, there is mixed sentiment about its impact on the region.
According to the Oneidas, the casino injects about $311 million yearly into the regional economy in combined spending on payroll, goods and services from vendors and on capital and construction projects.
The vast majority of the nation's 3,300 employees are non-American Indians, who earned nearly $80 million in wages in 2002 and paid about $10.5 million in federal and state payroll taxes.
The Oneidas have offered to share some of their newfound wealth. Since 1996, they have contributed nearly $4 million to seven local school districts in which the tribe has reacquired land. They also have begun providing grants to municipalities, although only two -- Verona and Canastota -- have accepted the money.
When the casino was first built, some residents formed a grass-roots group called Upstate Citizens for Equality to oppose the Oneidas. UCE organized protest motorcades to Albany and held regular demonstrations in front of the casino.
Community opposition has become less vocal, but some residents remain angry, mostly because the Oneidas claim they are sovereign and refuse to pay property taxes or follow local laws, said UCE President Scott Peterman.
"There's no question it has had a negative impact. Property taxes have been going up for years and now we're getting socked with record hikes," said Peterman, whose group claims 4,000 members in Madison and Oneida counties.
UCE has a pending lawsuit challenging the legality of the Oneidas' gambling compact with the state, which the group contends was never approved by state lawmakers. In a related ruling last month, the state Court of Appeals invalidated a compact the St. Regis Mohawk Nation reached with former Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1993 and ruled that New York governors cannot bypass the state Legislature when authorizing Indian tribes to establish casinos.
Oneida County Executive Joe Griffo said the casino has boosted tourism and brought much-need jobs to his county, which have offset the loss of property and sales taxes.
Madison County Supervisor Rocco DiVeronica said the casino has its "pluses and minuses."
There are the jobs, an important consideration in a county with 6 percent unemployment. The Oneidas, too, purchase many of their goods and services from local companies, he said.
"But I think the scale is tipped more toward the Oneidas," said DiVeronica.
The Oneidas have purchased about 5,900 acres in Madison County, and DiVeronica said the county estimates it has lost about $13 million in property taxes so far as the result of that land being removed from the tax rolls.
DiVeronica also cited the loss of business. In 1995, before the Oneidas opened their chain of Sav-On gas stations, there were 45 gas stations operating in Madison County. Today, there are 20, and 12 of those are owned by the Oneidas, he said.
"The only business I see growing is the casino," he said.
Town of Verona Supervisor David Reed, however, believes prosperity is just around the corner for local communities. That's a dramatic conversion from what Reed said when the casino opened 10 years ago.
"I was a leader of the opposition but I've evolved ... It doesn't make sense to keep fighting them. The Oneidas are going to grow. We want to make sure our town grows with them," Reed said.
The town and tribe recently agreed on a $20 million partnership to improve the water and sewage infrastructure around the casino and Reed said he already has begun discussions with developers looking to build hotels and restaurants near the casino.
Halbritter said Turning Stone has begun drawing a different clientele, a pattern Reed has noticed, too. Initially, visitors came usually for short periods and only to gamble. Now, they just as often come to vacation in the area, which means they are more apt to leave the resort to take in other area attractions, Reed said.
Halbritter knows there will always be those who don't like the Oneidas, who don't want the casino, who reject gambling and who oppose progress.
"It's hard to argue with success," Halbritter said. "We are building when other people are struggling to survive in New York state."
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