The U.S. Department of the Interior recently approved the Shawnee Tribe’s application to take into trust 107 acres of land in Guymon, Texas County, Oklahoma. The governor of Oklahoma now must approve the use of the land for the proposed off-reservation Golden Mesa Casino. In announcing the department’s approval, Shawnee officials said, “We applaud the Bureau of Indian Affairs for conducting a deliberate and open process in which they determined putting the land into trust would be positive for the Shawnee Tribe and the Panhandle community.”
The Shawnee tribe announced in February 2015 they planned to build the Golden Mesa Casino in Guymon, about 400 miles from the tribe’s Miami headquarters. The project would include a 60,000 square foot gaming and entertainment center. It would create 175 full-time jobs with an annual payroll of $3.7 million and an annual regional economic impact of $34 million.
Shawnee Chief Sparkman said the tribe will be good stewards of the land and pledged to work closely with local governments to build a stronger economy in the panhandle region.
In 2010 the BIA rejected the tribe’s application for a proposed casino in Oklahoma City.
