But the Seneca president treated Hochul's stadium funding plan as all but inevitable, even though other Senecas proposed renewing a legal battle that the tribe has repeatedly lost in the past in an effort to get back that money.

That split reflected a longstanding divide in Seneca Nation politics over how hard the Indian tribe should fight to retain the casino revenues it sent to Albany this week only after the state froze its bank accounts. But there was also agreement from both sides of that divide that Hochul did a terrible thing when she forced the tribe's hand.

“New York’s hostile and shameless greed was laid bare for the world to see yesterday," Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said in a statement.

Hochul administration officials approached KeyBank last week and, using a longstanding state law, asked that the Seneca's bank accounts be frozen in an attempt to force the casino money out of the Senecas. The move came after the Senecas lost repeated legal battles as courts said they owe the money.

Members of the tribe discovered the frozen accounts on Saturday when they couldn't even withdraw any money from ATMs, thereby leading the Seneca Nation Council to vote on Monday to send the payment to the state.

But Pagels clearly wasn't happy about it, calling the payment "ransom money for a new stadium."

Moreover, Pagels took a shot at Hochul's husband, William J. Hochul Jr., senior vice president and general counsel at Delaware North Cos. – a giant concessions and gaming firm based in Buffalo that handles food service at Highmark Stadium, the Bills' current facility. Gov. Hochul has recused herself from any state actions involving Delaware North, but Pagels indicated that the company would benefit from Hochul's decision to steer the Seneca money to the stadium project.

"I’m sure that was welcome news to the governor’s husband, whose company not only operates video lottery terminals within the Seneca Nation’s supposed gaming exclusivity zone with the state’s blessing, but the company will also make millions of dollars in concession business inside the state-owned stadium," Pagels said. "And it’s being paid for on the backs of the Seneca Nation. Quite a sweetheart deal."

Asked for a reaction to Pagels' comment, Hochul's spokeswoman, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said: “Gov. Hochul is committed to the strictest ethical standards and restoring trust in government. Delaware North is not a party to the stadium negotiations and any future decisions about vendors at the new stadium would be made by the Bills alone.”

Crampton-Hays also noted that Hochul has worked to amicably resolve the issue of the Seneca payment since she became governor last August.

"The courts have consistently ruled in the state's favor, and the state has negotiated in good faith and met every hurdle," Crampton-Hays said. "Time and again, the nation failed to fulfill their court-ordered obligations."

The $564.8 million delivered to the state amounts to 25% of the slot machine revenues at the Senecas' three casinos between 2017 and 2021. Under the 2002 compact that led to the construction of the casinos, the Senecas agreed to pay that 25% share to the state during the last half of the 14-year casino deal. But the two sides have been at odds as to whether the Senecas have to continue paying that 25% share under the seven-year compact extension that took effect in 2017.

Hochul wants to devote about $418.2 million from the Seneca payment to the $600 million state share of the Bills stadium project announced Monday. Other money from the Seneca payment would go to the communities that host the tribe's casinos and surrounding counties.

Despite Pagels' obvious anger, there was nothing in the Seneca president's statement that indicated that the Seneca Nation planned to try to stop the state from spending the Seneca casino revenues on a new Bills stadium.

Instead, he spoke of Hochul's plan as if it were a done deal.

"The governor’s new stadium won’t be a product of progress," Pagels said. "It will be a monument to Albany’s vindictive desire to punish the Seneca people. Ultimately, it’s something we’re all too familiar with.”

But Robert Odawi Porter, a lawyer who previously served as the tribe's president, argued that the Senecas should fight to get back the money that they just sent to the state.

"To me, it's a fraud," Porter said of the state's move to force the Senecas to pay up. "Then just like any fraud, we know who did it, and if it's an illegal payment, we're going to get it back."

Porter noted that the U.S. Department of the Interior never approved the compact extension that the Seneca casinos have been operating under since 2017 – and that on Monday, the federal department that oversees Native American affairs proposed new regulations that would force it to review compact extensions and any related documents.

"If those regulations were in effect tomorrow, they would serve as an independent basis for the nation to knock down this payment," he said.

And while the Senecas have lost their earlier battles aimed at keeping the casino money out of the state's hands, Leslie Logan – a founding member of the Seneca Mothers of the Nation, a group that has resisted paying the funds to the state – had a message for Hochul.

"Tell the governor there's more hell to come," she said.