The Alaskan Native Village of Eklutna is suing the U.S. Department of the Interior and the state of Alaska for the right to offering Indian gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Interior and the state both say IGRA doesn’t apply to the village. But if the village wins, it could be the opening wedge to introduce gaming into the Last Frontier.
The village sued after Interior ruled in June 2018 that the native allotment “does not constitute Indian Lands within the meaning of the Indian Regulatory Gaming Act.” The village has leased the land from a tribal member in hopes of being allowed to offer gaming on the Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Wasilla.
Contacted by Alaska journalist Craig Medred, a spokesman for the Department of the Interior said it was aware of the matter and its implications for the entire state, but has made no decisions as yet.
Gaming in the nation’s largest state is currently limited to pull-tabs and bingo. Although several native groups have been interested in getting into gaming, none have been able to do so because Alaska does not have reservations like many states do.
The lawsuit claims the department misapplied the law and that the decision was “influenced by improper political considerations.” It calls the decision “arbitrary and capricious.”
Nearly 50 years ago, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) created 12 regional native corporations and about 170 village corporations, which the federal government granted close to $1 billion and 44 million acres, giving them their choice of paths for self-determination. Many local businesses benefited, but not all. Some villages are still destitute and many villagers live in remote locations where it’s hard to make money.
Although the Obama administration made some moves towards creating a reservation system in the state, those efforts have not been continued by the Trump White House, and all such efforts have been opposed by Alaskan governors.
The recently installed Governor Mike Dunleavy has not made his views on this subject clear as yet.
Anchorage lawyer Don Mitchell, who formerly represented the Alaska Federation of Natives, commented, “This lawsuit has been coming for almost 40 years and is just the most recent end-game outcome of the state’s during the administrations of both Democratic and Republican governors and the congressional delegation’s politically pusillanimous acceptance of the Native sovereignty movement’s bogus legal assertions regarding tribal status.”
If the village were to win its lawsuit and open a casino, it would be able to tap the market of the Anchorage metro area, which has about 750,000 residents.
The Eklutna Native Village is the largest landowner in Anchorage, controlling about 90,000 acres. It has about 170 shareholders (members). But that land is not considered sovereign in the sense that reservations in other states are.
