Alan Meister, Kathryn Rand, and Steve Light have published their paper “Indian Gaming and Beyond: Tribal Economic Development and Diversification” in the South Dakota Law Review as part of a symposium on tribal economic development.
Here is the paper — Meister et al. Article on Tribal Econ Development
From ICT:
Seventeen attorneys general, seeking property taxes and more state power over sovereign Indian lands, have written to the ranking members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the House Resources Committee urging them to move slowly – if at all – on any Carcieri “fix” and to include them in discussions on the Interior secretary’s authority to take land into trust for the nations.
“A March 13 story in Indian Country Today said Indian country officials are calling for a quick legislative fix so that state and local interests will not have time to make arguments to Congress that the Carcieri decision should stand. The undersigned believe it would not be in the best interests of all stakeholders, both Indian and non-Indian, to rush a legislative fix and to ignore legitimate state and local interests,” the attorneys general wrote.
The Carcieri fix would have Congress amending the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act by deleting the phrase “any tribe now under federal jurisdiction” or adding the words “or hereafter” after the word “now.”
The fix would correct a February ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which interpreted “now” to mean then – 1934. The case centered on a 31 acre parcel of land purchased by the Narragansett Indian Tribe for elderly housing. The Interior Department agreed to place the land in trust, but the state and town fought that action all the way to the high court, where the justices ruled 6-3 that the Interior secretary could not take the land into trust because the tribe was not “federally recognized” in 1934.
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Here is the 60-page district court opinion in Cachil Dehe Band v. California — Calusa DCT Order — 4-22-09
Here’s the scoresheet:
For the reasons stated above, the court makes the following orders:
(1) Defendants’ motion to dismiss Picayune’s complaint in intervention is DENIED.
(2) With respect to Colusa’s First Claim for Relief in Colusa I, regarding Colusa’s priority in the draw process, defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings is DENIED, and Colusa’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.
(3) With respect to Colusa’s Second Claim for Relief in Colusa I and Picayune’s sole Claim for Relief, regarding the number of gaming devices authorized by the Compact, defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED, and Colusa’s and Picayune’s motions for summary judgment are GRANTED.
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The Supreme Court denied cert in two petitions captioned Cook v. Avi Casino Enterprises (Nos. 08-929, 08-930). It’s on page 4 of this order list.
This is good news for Indian Country (and for my student writing a paper on this subject — you reading this, J.?). There is a split of authority on the question of whether tribal business enterprises are immune from suit in a state law dram shop action, as we have discussed before. But I’m guessing the Court thinks it’s either unimportant or too much a state law question, since each state has its own version of dram shop laws and applies its own understanding of tribal sovereign immunity. But who knows….
From the Detroit News:
Lawyers for Greektown Casino-Hotel and the city of Detroit will have to wait two more weeks to hear if a bankruptcy judge thinks the casino can assume a development agreement that would grant a tax rollback saving roughly $17 million annually.
At an unusually short Friday hearing, federal Judge Walter Shapero said he’ll issue his opinion on the matter at 3 p.m. on May 14.
The tax rollback issue is particularly contentious for Greektown, which entered Chapter 11 proceedings 11 months ago. By filing, Greektown was able to secure the financing it needed to complete construction on its 400-room hotel and resort complex.
From Freep (H/T Pechanga):
Penn National Gaming, Inc., a well-capitalized casino owner, has submitted a bid to purchase Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit.
Timothy J. Wilmott, president and chief operating officer of the Pennslyvania-based company, said Penn National likes the Detroit market. The company also has looked at buying assets from MGM Mirage, including the company’s MGM Grand Detroit property.
Penn National is the second bidder to confirm its interest in buying the casino that filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy about a year ago. Bloomfield Hills businessman Tom Celani also has bid on Greektown.
Greektown is actively marketing the property through the bankruptcy process. By June 1, the casino’s estate must choose one of two paths — reorganization under its current owner, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, or a sale to a new owner.
THE DRAKE LAW REVIEW AND THE INTERNATIONAL MASTERS OF GAMING LAW: GAMING LAW SYMPOSIUM — Sadly, full text is not available for these articles on the Drake Law Review site….
Preface
Keith C. Miller
The Three Billion Dollar Question
Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier & Anne W. Bishop
Gambling with Bankruptcy: Navigating a Casino through Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Proceedings
Robert W. Stocker II & Peter J. Kulick
Alex Rodriguez, a Monkey, and the Game of Scrabble: The Hazards of Using Illogic to Define Legality of Games of Mixed Skill and Chance
Anthony N. Cabot, Glenn J. Light & Karl F. Rutledge
The Hand that’s Been Dealt: The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act at 20
Steven Andrew Light & Kathryn R.L. Rand
The “Business of Betting or Wagering”: A Unifying View of Federal Gaming Law
Ben J. Hayes & Matthew J. Conigliaro
Cards and Dice in Smoky Rooms: Tobacco Bans and Modern Casinos
Ronald J. Rychlak
Maybe Chairman Hogan read Matthew’s post yesterday . . .
From Indianz.com:
NIGC’s Hogen not drawing up post-1934 tribes list
The National Indian Gaming Commission is not compiling a list of tribes that were recognized after 1934, Chairman Phil Hogen said on Tuesday. Hogen, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, of South Dakota, spoke of the need for such a list in an Indian Country Today story that was published online on Monday. But in a follow-up to Indianz.Com, he said the NIGC isn’t leading the effort.”While I and the NIGC are concerned about the potential fallout of the Carcieri decision, we are not assuming the primary responsibility for determining which tribes may or may not be affected by the decision,” Hogen said. “We are certainly not drawing up any lists to that effect.”
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar limits the land-into-trust process to tribes that were “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934. Coming up with a list of affected tribes “might be helpful,” Hogen acknowledged. Citing his response to the decision and his stance on other issues, the National Indian Gaming Association is calling for Hogen, a Bush nominee, to resign.
It’s an apparent case of ‘better late than never.’ The tribal owners of the Four Winds Casino are about to make good on a promise to share revenue with the communities that are closest to the facility.
The break through came today in New Buffalo.
During the first 20-months of operation, the promised payments were placed in an escrow account by the tribe that owns the casino. The account is said to contain at least $6.2 million.
Today the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians started the process of releasing the cash.
It is inevitable that interested parties will want to know, or at least speculate, on which Indian tribes are truly affected by Carcieri v. Salazar. Interior and/or BIA may be drawing up lists. NCAI and NIGA are probably doing the same. And now so is NIGC. Update: Not so, according to Chairman Hogen. But I think it may be a mistake for the federal agencies to do so, and to trumpet the fact, as NIGC seems to be doing. The key thing to remember is that Carcieri is an absurdity, maybe not based on the statute or even the legislative history (the SCT has spoken), but in reality.
NIGC’s list is “a list of those tribes recognized after 1934,” according to Indianz. So what does that mean? It could mean, plausibly, every tribe. Interior has never kept a “list” of tribes under federal recognition and didn’t even keep a formal list of federally recognized tribes until 1994. And so maybe there was no tribe meeting these phantom definitions until Interior started informing tribes that they were about to have a Secretarial election under the IRA, post-IRA. And we’re pretty sure Interior’s decision on which tribes got to vote were arbitrary and often capricious. If NIGC’s going to start with the list of tribes that had IRA elections in the 1930s, then that list will be wrong to some extent.
And if a list is wrong, even as to one tribe, then the federal agency is wrong to generate such a list. Even if it doesn’t publish the list, it is probably subject to a FOIA request. Tribes incorrectly designated will be legally disadvantaged.
Finally, not to pick on the NIGC or Chairman Hogen (both have gotten some bad and unfair press lately), NIGC is not the primary interpreter of “under federal jurisdiction” or federal recognition. Interior is. And Interior has 75 years of history to review before it can come to any conclusions about any one tribe.
There is really no reason for any federal agency to make a list right now. It’ll be subject to litigation as soon as any one decision on the list becomes important, and I’d hate to see NIGC or Interior lose a fight on Chevron or Skidmore deference if they try to push their conclusions based on any such list.
Turtle Talk 
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