July 27th, 2008 by Casino4U | Posted in Harrah's Entertainment, Buffalo Creek Casino, News, Land Casinos | No Comments »
The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation’s casino investment in Harrah’s Entertainment - one of the world’s largest gambling companies, generated enough profit to pay for the legal battle against a downtown Buffalo casino, the Seneca Nation of Indians Buffalo Creek Casino. The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation is the second-largest private charitable foundation in Western New York.
The Wendt foundation made $2.1 million USD in earnings by selling 60,000 shares in Harrah’s Entertainment in 2006, thereby providing the primary financial backing behind a federal lawsuit opposing the Buffalo Creek Casino. This was confirmed by IRS tax filings examined by The Buffalo News.
Harrah’s Entertainment owns or manages 41 casinos in the United States, Canada and England.
The profitable investment sparked further criticism of the Wendt’s foundation, which has been tagged as an elitist group for its attempts to block the $333 million casino and hotel.
Lawyer and blogger Alan Bedenko, who along with fellow blogger Christopher Smith revealed the Harrah’s connection on his Web site, Buffalopundit.com stated that:
“You can’t have it both ways, - It’s either bad or it’s not bad. If the Wendt Foundation has a philosophical belief against the casino in Buffalo, I guess it should explain why it’s not bad everywhere.”
The Wendt foundation bought the Harrah’s Entertainment shares in 2003 for $2.8 million, according to its 2007 tax return, and sold its stock in May 2006 for a total of $4.9 million making that a 75 percent return in less than three years.
Wendt’s three trustees agreed to finance the lawsuit in January 2006, and the foundation has funneled $1.9 million to date through the Network of Religious Communities, one of the plaintiffs, for legal expenses.
The trustees were apparently unaware of the Harrah’s Entertainment investment until a periodic review following their decision to fund the suit, said a trustee Robert J. Kresse. It is reported that the Rev. G. Stanford Bratton, executive director of the Network of Religious Communities, said he was unaware of Wendt’s investment in Harrah’s, but it is felt that he downplayed its significance. Bratton’s position was that:
“Most folks who have a retirement plan may well be invested in a casino - it’s hard for almost any of us to be pure in that sense.”
According to Rev. Bratton, some persons were resorting to unfounded attacks on the Wendt foundation because the U.S. District Court determined that the casino is illegal, as many anti-gambling opponents have argued all along. He further stated that the criticism is akin to a peace protester accused of hypocrisy because he pays his income taxes, which help fund a war effort.
Further, Bratton believes that casinos and federal agencies have huge amounts of money to invest in lawsuits, while “the people opposed have peanuts,” he said.
Investment advisers Groesbeck Investment Management, based in New Jersey, determined the investment choices. The trustees decided to sell because the holdings were “inconsistent” with their position on gambling in the City of Buffalo, Kresse said.
The foundation’s mission is to assist the Western New York region and confront what is harmful, and it shouldn’t be limited in those aims simply because it holds stock in a company that promotes gambling, Bratton said.
Without the Wendt funding, opponents of the downtown casino would most probably not have been able to press forward in their case against the U. S. Secretary of the Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission.
U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny ruled earlier this month that the nine-acre plot on Michigan Avenue is sovereign Seneca land but does not meet the exception for off-reservation gambling.
Casino supporters have blamed the foundation and others for halting what they believe will be an economic shot in the arm for Buffalo.
A spokesman for the Seneca Gaming Corp. declined to comment on the Wendt Foundation’s connections to Harrah’s. According to Phil Pantano, Seneca Gaming Corp.’s spokesman:
“We’re not going to discuss it. That’s between the Wendt Foundation and the organizations they support”
Alan Bedenko said he wasn’t necessarily in favor of a casino but changed his mind after the court decided it was sovereign land and took aim at the foundation on his web site because he was disgusted by the nearly $2 million spent on lawyers.
“This is a foundation that doesn’t think a casino in the Cobblestone District of Buffalo is a good idea, but they don’t have a problem investing in a public casino corporation for the gain of the foundation,” said Bedenko, who in 2007 ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Erie County Legislature. “The whole thing just sort of stank to me.”
Bedenko’s posting provoked a variety of reponses, agreeing and disagreeing with his assessments.
Judge Skretny’s decision is now being appealed but the Wendt foundation has said that it will continue its legal funding, all the way to the Supreme Court.
About the Wendt Foundation:
Established as a trust and independent foundation in 1956, the Wendt Foundation is reputed to have given away more than $61 million in grants to Western New York organizations and played a pivotal role in saving the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, the Darwin Martin House and the Roycroft campus in East Aurora, among other charitable enterprises.
The foundation has an endowment of more than $140 million and gives away about $6 million per year, mostly to support the local arts and culture, and the needs of the poor, elderly and disadvantaged.
Address + Contact Information:
The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation
Robert J. Kresse, Secretary/Treasurer
40 Fountain Plaza, Suite 277
Buffalo, NY 14202-2220
Phone Number: (716) 855-2146
Geographic focus: New York
Limitations: Giving primarily in Buffalo and western NY. No grants to individuals, or for scholarships.
Trustees: Janet L. Day; Thomas D. Lunt; Robert J. Kresse.
Number of staff: 1 part-time support.
Memberships: Grantmakers for Education; Western New York Grantmakers Association.
Financial data: (yr. ended 01/31/06 ):
- Assets, $126,511,319 (M);
- expenditures, $7,136,322;
- total giving, $5,461,320;
- qualifying distributions, $5,714,808;
- giving activities include $5,461,320 for 130 grants (high: $500,000; low: $510; average: $5,000-$50,000).
About the Buffalo Creek Casino:
The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino is scheduled to open in 2010, planning to bring the excitement of world-class gaming and entertainment to the city of Buffalo, New York.
The new casino facility intends to build on the success of Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls and Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca to offer patrons three distinct and thrilling options for their gaming and entertainment pleasure.
Located on the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Buffalo Creek Territory in the Inner Harbor area of Buffalo, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino intends to feature 2,000 slot machines, 45 table games, Dining, On-site parking for approximately 2,500 vehicles, over 1,000 jobs, with total payroll of approximately $38 million on 90,000 square-foot casino floor, a 22-story all-suite hotel with 206 suites ranging in size from 550 sq.ft up to 2,000 sq.ft., a full-service luxury spa and salon, 4 restaurants, a 3-acre public park to be located in northwest corner of site with attached parking for 2,500 vehicles
Construction of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino officially began on December 8, 2005. The site, which is considered sovereign Seneca territory, is bordered by Michigan Avenue to the west, Perry Street to the north, Marvin Street to the east and South Park Avenue to the south.
The name Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino refers to the name of the Seneca Nation’s original Buffalo Creek Territory, which occupied lands surrounding the designated casino site until the Treaty of Buffalo Creek in 1842.
