The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians last week filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from a casino that a neighboring gaming tribe, the North Fork tribe, wants to build in Madera Parcel in partnership with Station Casinos.
The tribe argues that the land does not fit the proper legal definition of Indian land as required by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. It states that the proposed casino would do its own casino harm and steal patrons away.
The same judge ruled in November of last year that the state of California was forced to negotiate a new compact with the North Fork tribe, even though the voters of the state rejected the last compact in a statewide ballot measure in 2014 that was pushed by the gaming watchdog group Stand Up for California.
The Chukchansi was one of several other gaming tribes who helped fund that initiative, Proposition 48.
Chukchansi Tribal Chairman Claudia Gonzales declared last week:
“What is being attempted by the billionaire owners of Station Casinos is shameful. They are attempting to buy the sovereignty of a tribe. We will continue to fight to keep tribal sovereignty in the hands of tribal nations.”
The Chukchansi tribe and Stand Up for California have filed a total of five state and federal lawsuits to try to stop the casino. Stand Up argues that the casino would be an example of “reservation shopping” because the land is a considerable distance from the tribe original reservation.
Gonzales added, “These legal actions are required because North Fork’s backers are ignoring existing law and the will of California’s voters who overwhelmingly rejected the plan just a few years ago.”
North Fork Rancheria Tribal Chairman Maryann McGovran fired back, “These most recent outrageous comments from Chukchansi, together with their overall strategy which frankly undermines tribal rights nationally, really are just an attempt to deflect attention from the real story here – Chukchansi’s desperate attempts to forestall the inevitable competition by wasting their tribal citizens’ money on two more lawsuits and endless pleadings in pending cases rather than focusing on building the very best casino possible for their customers, workers, and community.”
