The Cayuga Nation Council, led by Halftown, seized the building in 2020 after the Cayuga Nation Police conducted a raid and demolished the building, which operates as part of the disapproval of Halftown. The section against the country’s gaming interests ran the building for six years before the seizure.
LakeSide Entertainment is a class II gaming facility under the Indian Gaming Regulations Act that can provide bingo and video game consoles similar to slot machines. Halftown said, “In addition to our variety of other companies, gaming has long been a way to provide important resources to our entire community and citizens of the Cayuga country.”
Cayuga Nation’s other lakeside entertainment gaming facility is located in Union Springs, adjacent to one of New York’s finger lakes. This was the subject of a lawsuit by Cayuga Nation and Union Spring authorities demanding that the tribe obtain a license. The federally recognized Cayuga tribe has filed a lawsuit against the village, alleging that the Indian Gaming Regulation Act preempts the application of the village ordinance.
The case was first dismissed in 2015, but the ruling was overturned unanimously in a second circuit trial in 2016. Judge Gerard Lynch rejected the town’s view that the tribe’s federal representative lacked the right to sue and that the Cayugu tribe did not claim enough injuries.
A three-member jury says Clint Halftown, who sued on behalf of the tribe, has been recognized by the Indian Bureau as the last legitimate leader of the tribe.