A decision last week by a federal judge will allow a tribe near Fresno, California to host gaming on 300 acres. This defeats the Club One Casino and Deuce Lounge cardrooms that challenged the process by which the Bureau of Indian Affairs put land for North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians into trust.
The lawsuit questioned tribe’s jurisdiction over the 300 acres. It claimed the tribe would hurt their businesses since it could operate slot machines and they could only offer table games.
The case stretches back 15 years to when the tribe applied to put the land into trust. In 2012 Governor Jerry Brown signed a gaming compact with the tribe.
The compact was challenged when residents and some rival tribes funded a petition to put the agreement on the ballot in 2014. The compact was voted down by the voters by 61 percent. However, when the state refused further negotiations because of the vote, the tribe appealed to the courts, which ordered the state to come up with an agreement. Failing this, the National Indian Gaming Commission appointed a mediator which accepted the tribe’s offer.
Two years ago the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a permit for the tribe to offer gaming. This was challenged by the lawsuit. According to the court order: “The secretary’s issuance of Secretarial Procedures was not arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise not in accordance with law for any of the reasons identified by plaintiffs.”
