gaming – Page 100 – Turtle Talk

Hearing on Little River Band Off-Rez Gaming Compact Delayed

June 15, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

A hearing on the off-reservation casino sought by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has been delayed.

The Michigan House Regulatory Reform Committee held an initial hearing on the project on May 26. Additional hearings were scheduled but they were canceled.

“I don’t get why they’re holding this up,” Rep. Doug Bennett (D), who supports the casino, told The Muskegon Chronicle.

The new hearing probably won’t be held until the end of this month or in early July, an aide to Rep. Bert Johnson, the chairman of the committee, told the paper. The location hasn’t been determined either although it will be held somewhere in the Muskegon area.

The tribe wants to build the casino at a former racetrack in Fruitport Township, near Muskegon. The site is about 80 miles from the tribe’s headquarters but it’s within the tribe’s nine-county service area.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians oppose the project. They say the Little River Band violated the terms of the original Class III compact by not seeking approval from other tribes for an off-reservation casino.

Get the Story:

State House group to have casino proposal hearing here (The Muskegon Chronicle 6/15)

NIGC: 2009 Indian Gaming Revenues Stable (Actually, Slight Decline for the First Time)

June 14, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is that press release.

Detailed revenue charts here.

Foxwoods Attorney Involved in Conflict of Interest Dispute with Penn. Judge

June 14, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From How Appealing:

“Lawyer for court also aided Foxwoods; Jeffrey B. Rotwitt took casino cases before Justice Ronald D. Castille while working on the Family Court deal for him”: This article appears today in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Who Is Tracie Stevens?”

June 14, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From AllGov, via Pechanga:

If confirmed as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission, Tracie Stevens would become the first woman to lead the oversight body for the $27 billion Indian gaming industry.

A member of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington State, Stevens was born in Los Angeles, but returned to Tulalip as a child. In 1985, she became the first member of her immediate family to graduate high school, which she did in Yakima, Washington, in 1985. She began her professional career in the gaming industry in 1995 at her tribe’s casino (Quil Ceda Creek Casino), located north of Seattle. There, she worked in human resource management, employee recruitment and training, and operations planning and analysis, before becoming the Tulalip Casino’s executive director for strategic planning in 2001.

In 2003, she became a legislative policy analyst in the tribe’s government affairs office. She represented the Tulalips in negotiations to update gambling compacts between the state of Washington and all federally-recognized tribes in the state. She also lobbied state lawmakers on tribe-related bills, including a controversial measure in 2005 to allow the Tulalips to retain millions in sales tax revenue collected at Quil Ceda Village. The bill did not pass.

In 2006, Stevens was elevated to senior policy analyst, a position she held until 2009. Also in 2006, Stevens received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences from the University of Washington-Seattle, an accomplishment that took many years, as she had to attend night school while working.

Continue reading →

Sault Tribe Enlisted Stupak to Pressure Justice and Interior on Greektown Parcel

June 13, 2010June 13, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Soo Evening News:

The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians has gained a powerful ally in its bid to retain Greektown Casino as Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) has requested the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Michigan Gaming Control Board to postpone Chapter 11 reorganization.

In a three-page letter [20100609_GreektownCasino], Stupak urges the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate if it is legally possible for the Sault Tribe to lose its real estate interest in Greektown Casino. Essentially, Stupak argued, that the 0.76 acre parcel located at 1010 Beaubien Street in the City of Detroit has been placed in federal trust and cannot be conveyed to another party without Congressional authorization.

“I seriously question the propriety and legality of a process in which the property conveyed to the United States in trust on behalf of the Tribe can be conveyed without authority from Congress and without full Tribal consent,” wrote Stupak, indicating it was his opinion that the parcel is owned by the federal government for the benefit and use of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Stupak went on to write “that any further proceedings related to the reorganization of the Greektown Casino by the Michigan Gaming Control Board or other agencies be postponed” until a determination is made by federal authorities.
Stupak expressed his concerns regarding this matter following a meeting with Director D.J. Hoffman of the Sault Tribe Board of Directors last week.

“On June 4, 2010 myself, Director (Keith) Massaway and Chairman (Darwin “Joe”) McCoy met with Congressman Stupak to discuss Tribal issues, including Greektown,” said Hoffman. “I am extremely grateful that Congressman Stupak recognized the serious nature of this situation and immediately took action to call this issue into question.”
Chairman McCoy expressed similar sentiments.

Continue reading →

Stupak Throws Indian Law Monkey Wrench Into Greektown Bankruptcy

June 11, 2010June 11, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Potentially, though perhaps not likely, this is a huge issue. Assuming that the Greektown parcel is owned by the Secretary of Interior on behalf of the Sault Tribe, then an Act of Congress may be required. And if one is not forthcoming, there may be some very interesting litigation involving the interaction of federal bankrupcty laws and maybe the Quiet Title Act. If the land is not in trust, then we may still have a Non-Intercourse Act problem, but likely not. Apparently, according to the letter, the land is in trust.

Update: Via Indianz, here is Stupak’s letter.

From the Freep, via Pechanga:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep Bart Stupak wants to halt the bankruptcy reorganization of Greektown Casino at least until the federal government determines whether an act of Congress is needed to transfer the land the Detroit gaming hall sits on.

Earlier this year, a federal bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan allowing Greektown Casino’s bondholders — including several private equity and hedge funds — to take ownership. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, based on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, has a majority ownership stake in the casino.

The process needs the approval of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, with a court deadline of June 30 approaching.

But Stupak, D-Menominee, has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to delay any change in ownership while they investigate whether land held by the federal government on behalf of the tribe — about three-fourths of an acre on Beaubien Street in Detroit — can be transferred without an act of Congress.

“The tribe stands to lose its entire investment in the business, including a portion of the real property underlying the casino,” Stupak said in the letter written Wednesday.

According to Stupak, 400 Monroe Associates — controlled by Greektown businessman Ted Gatzaros — deeded the land to the U.S. Department of Interior on behalf of the tribe in 1992.

Tribally owned lands cannot be sold without the consent of the federal government, and the Interior Department is not allowed to approve the sale of such land without direct congressional authorization, Stupak said.

Continue reading →