The case pitting a California card club and its allies against the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, who hope to build a casino off Highway 99 near Madera County will be heard by the California Supreme Court next month.
The Attorney General’s office is representing Governor Gavin Newsom against a coalition of businesses and other gaming tribes that want to stop the Mono tribe’s proposal to build a casino resort, including a 200-room hotel.
Since 2003, the tribe has sought to build a casino resort in partnership with Station Casinos, which would build and manage the facility on 305 acres. The land is within the tribe’s aboriginal homeland. Governor Jerry Brown signed a compact with the tribe in 2012, which was approved by the legislature the following year.
A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the casino watchdog group Stand Up for California, which had sued Interior over its decision to put the land into trust. If the California Supreme Court favors the tribe in its case, the legal challenges for the tribe might be over.
