A federal judge last week ordered the National Indian Gaming Commission to take another look at its process whereby it authorized a casino for the Nebraska-based Ponca tribe’s Prairie Flower Casino in Iowa.
Judge Stephanie Rose called the commission’s analysis “arbitrary and capricious” because it didn’t consider all the evidence. The judge remanded the decision back to the NIGC “for further consideration.”
A lawsuit was filed by the state of Iowa, the state of Nebraska and the city of Council Bluffs against the decision after the NIGC issued it last October. The ruling does not require the casino to close, but it is a setback.
The casino was built on tribal land in Iowa that is nevertheless almost adjacent to the city of Omaha in neighboring Nebraska. The tribe lost its federal status in the 1960s but its status was restored in 1990 and its reservation on Carter Lake was also restored. The first time the NIGC authorized a casino was in 2007. That decision was overturned, one of the many landmarks in a more than decade process by the tribe.
Ponca tribal Chairman Larry Wright Jr. commented that the judge’s ruling for the NIGC to revisit its decision was mostly positive from the tribe’s perspective. “The Ponca Tribe is pleased with the court’s examination of the facts and overall conclusion,” Wright said. “We believe it essentially rejected the principle legal arguments the plaintiffs raised in opposition to our right to game on our sovereign land in Carter Lake.”
Wright added, “Obviously, we would have liked to have it all cleared up, but we believe we’re still in the strong position that we were when we decided to move forward.”
Iowa claims that the tribe in 2002 agreed not to use the Carter Lake land for a casino when it first applied to put the land into trust. Two years ago the NIGC ruled that agreement was invalid.
The judge’s decision upheld the basic premise that the tribe’s agreement not to use the land for a casino wasn’t binding but requires the NIGC to look again at whether the agreement impacts whether the lands can be considered “restored lands,” for purposes of using them for a casino.
