gaming – Page 126 – Turtle Talk

ICT on Gun Lake Band Fee to Trust Victory

February 17, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

BRADLEY, Mich. – The Interior Department has formally taken 147 acres of land into trust for the Gun Lake Tribe, ending a decade of opposition from an anti-Indian casino group.

Interior’s action took place Jan. 30; nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition from Michigan Gaming Opposition (MichGO) challenging the interior’s authority to take land into trust.

A few days earlier, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon tossed out a motion filed by former Wayland Township Trustee David Patchak, asking for a stay to stop the federal government from putting the tribe’s land into trust. Both actions were based on a highly controversial land into trust case – Carcieri vs. Narragansett – filed by the state of Rhode Island against the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Carcieri questions the interior secretary’s authority to take land into trust and whether land can be taken into trust for tribes that were not recognized in 1934, the year of the Indian Reorganization Act.

The two legal actions end any ambiguity about Gun Lake’s legal ability to move forward with its planned $200 million casino.

The tribe issued a press release with the exuberant headline “In land we trust.”
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Cert Petition in California v. Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians

February 12, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Ah, Rule 19! Here is California’s cert petition — california-petition-for-cert

Just so everyone knows, I called this YEARS ago! See my “The Comparative Rights of Indispensable Sovereigns.” 🙂

And here are the lower court materials (Rincon Band; Cachil Dehe; and San Pascqual). And here is our post on Pimentel.

Questions Presented (from the cert petition):

In 1999, the State of California and sixty-one federally recognized tribes entered into virtually identical tribal-state class III gaming compacts (Compacts) under the authority of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2721 (IGRA). The Compacts allow those tribes to operate slot machines if they have been issued licenses for those devices from a prioritized and limited license pool established by the Compacts, or if they have obtained a compact amendment allowing them to operate slot machines without reference to that license pool. The questions presented are:

1. In applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19 (Rule 19), may a federal court, consistent with the rule of decision in Republic of the Philippines v. Pimentel, 128 S. Ct. 2180 (2008), utilize the authority it has under Rule 19(b) to safeguard (through the shaping of relief) the legally protected interest of an absent sovereign as a basis for finding that the absent sovereign is not a required party within the meaning of Rule 19(a)?

2. May the asserted ability of a court of appeals to resolve inconsistent district court decisions on the same claim for relief be relied upon to conclude that an absent person need not be joined under Rule 19(a)?

Michigan Senate Bills 67-68: Capturing Child Support from Gaming Winnings

February 12, 2009February 12, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Under these bills, every time a $1000 winner at a Michigan casino tries to collect, the casino must determine whether or not the winner owes money in the child support system.

2009-SIB-0067

2009-SIB-0068

Michigan Senate Approves Gun Lake Gaming Compact – What Next?

February 11, 2009February 11, 2009bnewland2 Comments

Cross-posted with American Indian Policy Blog.

The Michigan State Senate voted to approve the Tribal-State Gaming Compact between the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish (Gun Lake) Band of Potawatomi Indians and the State of Michigan. The Gun Lake Band reached agreement on this compact with Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2007, and the Michigan House of Representatives approved this agreement by resolution – consistent with its practice of approving gaming compacts by resolution – later that year.

Interestingly, the Senate acted today in a new legislative session, which began on January 14, 2009. The House of Representatives’ approval of this compact occurred in the previous legislative session. Will the Gun Lake Band return to the House of Representatives, which is under the same leadership as in 2007 when it originally approved the compact, for another approval in this legislative session? Or, will the Band make the argument that since both houses of the Legislature have given their approval, the compact is now in effect?

From Gongwer News Service:

Senate Approves Gun Lake Compact
On a voice vote the Senate has approved the state’s compact with the Gun Lake tribe of Pottawatomie Indians, effectively the last state hurdle towards the tribe building and opening a casino.

The Senate approved SR 11 without debate, though opponents outlined their objections afterwards. The chamber, which had held off acting on approving the compact reached with Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2006, acted a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal to block the casino.

Conner & Taggart on the Impact of Gaming on New Mexico Tribes

February 9, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Thaddieus W. Conner and William A. Taggart have published “The Impact of Gaming on the Indian Nations of New Mexico” in the Social Science Quarterly (conner-taggart-the-impact-of-gaming-on-nm-tribes). Here is the abstract:

Objective.

This study examines the economic and social impact of Indian gaming on the residents of the 22 pueblos and tribes in New Mexico.

Method.

We employ a naturally occurring quasi-experimental design that classifies each of the Indian Nations into one of two groups, gaming and nongaming, depending on the continuous operation of a “Las Vegas” style casino for multiple years in the 1990s. For these two groups we compare aggregate, primarily U.S. Census, data spanning 25 indicators in both 1990 and 2000.

Results.

Although improvements were evident for both groups, nine of the 12 economic measures and six of the 13 social measures revealed a growing disparity favoring gaming nations during the 1990s, while six other measures suggested declining but continuing differences. These findings persisted in light of controls for population and urbanization, though many of the economic differences disappeared for the rural nations.

Conclusion.

Gaming has had a positive economic and social impact on the gaming pueblos and tribes in New Mexico, especially for the more urbanized nations. The gaming nations are enjoying higher incomes, lower levels of poverty, and improvements in selected social areas compared to those nations opting not to pursue casino gaming in the 1990s.

Gun Lake Band Casino Financing Should Not Be Affected by Stations Casino’s Bankruptcy

February 9, 2009February 9, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Vegas Review-Journal:

While Station Casinos plans to file for bankruptcy in March, a joint venture of the casino company plans to seek financing and break ground within weeks on a $200 million American Indian casino in Michigan.

Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said its tribal gaming contracts wouldn’t be affected by the restructuring because contracts are held separately from the casino company’s financing structure.

Station Casinos announced late Tuesday its plans for prepackaged bankruptcy pending approval from investors holding $2.3 billion of the company’s $5.4 billion debt load.

Dennis Farrell Jr., a bond analyst for Wachovia Capital Markets, agreed the pending bankruptcy would not affect financing for the new casino.

“It will be financed on its own and Stations will help support the project,” said Farrell, adding that the company will collect a management fee once the casino opens.

***The Michigan casino was able to move ahead when a 10-year legal struggle by the Gun Lake Tribe, also known as the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, ended Jan. 30. At that time, the U.S. Department of Interior authorized the placing of 146 acres into trust. That move was made possible when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Jan. 21 not to hear an opposition group’s petition to block the casino.

The tribe’s gaming compact should be voted on in the Michigan Legislature in the next few weeks, tribe spokesman James Nye said.

He said the tribe plans to break ground on the casino in the next “several weeks.”

It would take nearly 16 months to convert an old 192,000-square-foot factory and warehouse into a casino with up to 2,500 slots machines, 75 table games, restaurants and a buffet.

Coushatta Tribe v. Meyer & Associates Cert Petition

February 7, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This case involves the question of whether state courts have to comply with the tribal court exhaustion doctrine. Here is the petition — coushatta-tribe-v-meyer-and-assoc-cert-petition

Here is the lower court opinion, from the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Catskill Litigation Trust v. Harrah’s Cert Petition

February 6, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here it is — catskill-litigation-trust-cert-petition

This was filed in mid-January, and since the SCT denied cert in the CA9 case that the petitioners claim conflicts with this one, I bet this one has no chance of being granted.

Bankruptcy Court OKs Greektown Financing

February 4, 2009Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Freep:

Greektown Casino can borrow the money it needs to complete its new 400-room hotel, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled today.

Judge Walter Shapero approved $22.5 million in loans, part of a $46-million financing package that the downtown casino owners say is needed to keep its general contractor on the job.

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