Although the Tohono O’odham Nation is negotiating a new agreement with the city of Glendale, Arizona based on the fact that it will be operating a Class II casino rather than a Class III casino, it still intends to pay the city .4 million annually for twenty years.
The original agreement would have become effective when the tribe began operating a Class III casino. Now it becomes effective when the tribe opens its Class II casino, which is expected to be before the end of this year.
The agreement commits the tribe to building and paying for any infrastructure that is required as a result of the casino. It will also pay for additional police, fire and emergency medical services.
Although the tribe is still locked in a legal struggle with the state government, as well as several neighboring gaming tribes, it is busy hiring workers for the new Desert Diamond Casino West Valley, near Glendale.
An estimated 3,000 signed up for jobs at a two-day job fair held recently at the casino site. The casino’s Human Resources Director May Mantia said that she was “overwhelmed” by the response.
The casino will have 220,000 square feet of gaming space, with 1,089 slots, a 400-room hotel, spa and 100,000 SF of convention space.
The tribe is suing the state government because its gaming department has refused to issue a permit for the tribe’s slot machines, claiming that the tribe violated the 2002 tribal state gaming compact that all of the state’s gaming tribe signed. In response the tribe says it will open a Class II casino, which doesn’t require a permit. It plans to eventually obtain a Class III license.
