NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- If New York state and the Seneca Nation of Indians had not found a solution before Dec. 9, roughly 3,000 Seneca gaming jobs in Western New York could have have been in jeopardy.

However, the two sides agreed to an extension until March 31 of the current 20-year-old compact necessary for Seneca casinos to continue to operate.

"I have to come to the conclusion that that means that they think that they're at least close to a deal or the negotiations are progressing because in my experience if they're not then those extensions are harder to hammer out," state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said.

Ortt represents Niagara Falls, which hosts the largest of the three casinos. He says he doesn't know specifically what the two sides still need to figure out since the governor's office is handling the negotiations.

The Senecas currently pay the state 25% of their net slot machine revenues, and in exchange, competing Class III casinos cannot be built nearby.

"My suspicion is it really comes down to the exclusivity, what that means, how the state of New York views that how the Seneca Nation views that and what is the value of that," he said.

The state Legislature does however need to approve a final deal and last session the Assembly effectively shut down an agreement in principle after it learned details about the state potentially allowing the Senecas to build a new facility in the Rochester area. Ortt said he has no problem with the new compact being part of this year's budget, which is due a day after the new deadline but says the governor's office needs to present the details in order to avoid a repeat.

"We'll need time though to digest the deal so this hopefully will not be a last day of session or two in the morning on April 1 as the budget needs to be done and oh, by the way, here's this compact. It's too important to Western New York and I would argue it's too important to New York state," he said.

Ortt said there was no conversation about a special session to approve a new deal before Dec. 9 so an extension was the only realistic solution.