Monday's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to not hear an appeal on a suit regarding the legality of state action that allowed the creation of Turning Stone Casino brought by Upstate Citizens for Equality sets the stage for a final, if not protracted, showdown on the future of the controversial gambling facility. It is unlikely that officials will shut down the casino, at least for now. But they have the power to bring to an end several outstanding issues that the Oneidas have refused to deal with.

The lawsuit brought six and a half years ago rightfully charged that then-Gov. Mario Cuomo did not get the required approval of the New York state Legislature when he entered into the agreement that resulted in Turning Stone being opened in July 1993. For more than a dozen years the issues resulting from this enterprise and its secondary operations, especially those dealing with the collection of excise, fuel and sales taxes have festered like an open sore.

The Oneidas have taken the hard line of not negotiating a deal with the state on some of these more controversial (cigarettes and gas), but less financially lucrative operations. Monday's decision is the big snake eyes for the tribe that is said to employ roughly 5,000 central New Yorkers and attracts more than 4 million people to their operations.

The Oneidas may feel that their gambling operations are still under the jurisdiction of Washington (which has been too cozy with Native American tribes for years) rather than Albany (that has become increasingly frustrated with the inability to tap into their revenues to fill state coffers and the politics of not being able to please their business constituents who don't like what they consider to be an unlevel playing field).

Such a belief may be self delusional. A series of court decisions of late have restricted the scope of sovereignty, not expanded it. Monday's decision to let May's Court of Appeals decision stand is just another blaring signal that it is in the Oneida's interest to try to sit down with the state sooner than later to try to work out a deal.

The tribe's leaders, especially their charismatic point man, Ray Hallbritter, may hope that an application for land in trust status (what the Cayuga Indian Nation is asking for in Cayuga and Seneca counties) may protect them from having to change the way they operate, are likely betting the house on a gambit that may not pay off.

The Oneida's intransigence, as well as a series of other politically poor moves by other Native American leaders, has landed the Oneida's in a place that may see their gambling operation eventually closed down and their long term investments wither away.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com