Seneca Nation says Gov. Hochul won’t play ball after blitzing them for Buffalo Bills cash

The Seneca Nation of Indians says Gov. Kathy Hochul is holding up a “fair” deal on gambling revenues — after putting “a gun to our head” by freezing nation bank accounts to get $418 million for a new Buffalo Bills stadium in her hometown.

“What the governor did was literally putting politics over people. She impacted not only the Seneca Nation with access to healthcare prescription medication. She also impacted 5,000 jobs, most of which are non-Seneca, that work in our casinos,” Seneca President Matthew Pagels told Spectrum News Wednesday night.

“It will never be forgotten what happened,” he warned the governor.

The state and Senecas had a six-year dispute over gambling revenues that ended last March when the Nation capitulated after the Hochul administration unexpectedly froze Nation bank accounts to gain leverage.

Hochul then used the $418 million of the $564 million forked over by the Nation to help fund a the state share of a $1.2 billion stadium for the Bills following criticism about using taxpayer dollars to benefit her hometown team.

Employees of the Seneca Nation, which operates three casinos in the Buffalo area, remain at risk as the embattled Democrat Hochul, in a tight race against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, holds up negotiations on extending a gambling revenue deal with the state before it expires next year, according to Pagel.

“We are putting every foot forward to negotiate, making ourselves available, and she’s making not as much of a commitment by not putting people that can negotiate at the table with us,” Pagels, who was recently elected treasurer of the Seneca Nation, told “Capital Tonight” host Susan Arbetter.

Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays disputed how Pagels – who did not provide comment to The Post on Thursday — described the pace of ongoing talks ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

“Staff at the Executive Chamber and Gaming Commission have been having substantive negotiations with the Seneca Nation for months. We are fully committed to continuing to meet, discuss, and negotiate a compact, and we are confident that the process will continue in a way that best serves New Yorkers,” Crampton-Hays said.

Her controversial move to raise money for the Bills to get a new home with $850 million in taxpayer funding, meanwhile, continues to shadow Hochul on the campaign trail as she fights off a tough challenge from Zeldin, who criticized her over the stadium deal in their Oct. 25 debate hosted by Spectrum News.

“At the 11th hour of a budget deal, she screwed over the Seneca Nation,” Zeldin said.

Hochul has recused herself from matters involving the compact with the Seneca Nation because her husband, former US Attorney Bill Hochul, works for a business that could potentially compete with the Seneca operations.

The state and the Nation — one of three federally recognized Seneca groups — inked a deal two decades ago to share revenues at its casinos with little drama between the two sides until 2016 when a dispute erupted between the Indian nation and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

An arbiter ultimately sided with the state, which was pursuing hundreds of millions of dollars in additional money, but litigation held up payments from the Senecas.

That ended last March after Hochul froze banks accounts following pushback over her support for the state footing $600 million to help fund a new $1.2 billion stadium for the Buffalo Bills.

“The governor’s new stadium won’t be a product of progress. It will be a monument to Albany’s vindictive desire to punish the Seneca people,” Pagels said at the time.

The Nation ultimately released $564 million — $418 million of which Hochul used to dampen criticism about her use of taxpayer money for her hometown team.

Pagels hinted Thursday that additional matters are holding up a deal with the state, including the “exclusivity” of their casinos within a state gambling market that has expanded under Hochul’s watch amid growing revenues from online sports bets.