The Obama administration has demonstrated a unique working relation with Indian Country, and a decision last week by the Interior Department extended that friendly relationship to Indian gaming. Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, last week announced that he had withdrawn a controversial memo that was issued in January 2008 that rejected most off-reservation land requests.

Echo Hawk told a meeting of the National Congress of American Indians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that the memorandum, released by Bush administration Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, was “unnecessary and was issued without the benefit of tribal consultation.”

“We will proceed to process off-reservation gaming applications in a transparent manner, consistent with existing law,” Echo Hawk said.

The 2008 memo limited any off-reservation casino land to land that was close to the reservation, so tribal members could “commute” to any jobs made available.

Echo Hawk says the Interior Department would evaluate applications under just three criteria.

• The Interior Department must acquire the land for the tribe’s benefit.

• The acquisition must be best interests of the tribe and the surrounding community and public comment will be considered.

• The governor of the state where the land is located must agree to the acquisition—whether or not the tribe itself is actually located in that state—and the tribe must enter into a tribal-state gaming compact to regulate gambling operations.

Since the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was approved in 1988, only five tribes have been able to accomplish taking land into trust for gaming purposes.

The decision has had immediately effects on some tribes.

In New York, several tribes and gaming companies have struggled to open a casino in the Catskill Mountains, 90 miles north of New York City. The most recent applicant, the St. Regis Mohawks, were rejected in the 2008 memo but failing to qualify under the commutability standard. The Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, from Wisconsin, was also a victim of the memo.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has lobbied the Interior Department for years to break the logjam.

“Today’s announcement cracks open a previously locked door and presents a renewed opportunity to pursue a Catskills casino,” Schumer said in a statement. “Though barriers still remain, this groundbreaking action by DOI removes what was an insurmountable hurdle on the path to a Catskills casino.”

Opposing the off-reservation casino would be the Oneida tribe, which operates Turning Stone in Verona. The Senecas may also weigh in against it.

More serious opposition comes from the tracks surrounding New York City. Genting New York, which is renovating the Aqueduct racetrack with more than 3,000 VLTs, is opposed.

“This is not fair to existing gaming facilities that have invested billions of dollars in New York,” said New York Gaming Association President James Featherstonhaugh.

Two tribes in Wisconsin suddenly saw their off-reservation plans blossom again. The Menominee tribe has been trying for years to get a casino approved at a shuttered dog track, the Dairyland Greyhound Park. The tribe’s application was rejected in 2010.

“It's certainly the best news we've had in years,” said Rory Dilweg, attorney for the Menominee. “It breathes new life in the tribe's effort.”

In addition to the Menominee effort, the St. Croix and Bad River bands of Chippewa have been pursuing a casino in Beloit for more than 10 years. The Ho Chunk Nation is a part owner of the Beloit parcel.

Beloit City Manager Larry Arft, says the city is still interested in working with the tribes.

“The tribes anticipated this would be done early in the Obama administration and for whatever reason it’s taken a year-and-a half, but it certainly removes the improperly imposed restriction on the rights of Native American tribes,” Arft said. “I think it’s a good move on the part of the administration. It’s hard to say yet what exactly the impact might be on the Beloit casino, but it’s good to be rid of that rule.”

Opposition comes from the Potawatomi tribe, which operates one of the state’s most successful casinos in Milwaukee.

By Staff