The Tohono O’Odham Nation of Arizona made the first of what is expected to be 20 annual payments of at least .2 million to the city of Glendale, part of its agreement with the city whereby Glendale withdrew its opposition to the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino And Resort.
Glendale City Attorney Michael Bailey told a local radio station why the city dropped its opposition to the casino in August of 2014, after fighting it for five years. “It went from a hostile relationship where we had been litigating for numerous years [to] where it was more of a recognition that this is an opportunity for a business to be established in or about Glendale that would bring jobs to the area.”
The tribe remains locked in a legal contest with the Arizona Department of Gaming and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, which the tribe is suing in federal court to try to force it to authorize Class III slot machines at its casino, which opened in December, but only with Class II games, which the state has no oversight over.
This is only the most recent of more than 20 courtroom challenges to the tribe’s right to build in Glendale, which it did with money from a land settlement. However, in the latest courtroom tussle, opponents argue that the tribe employed fraud when it was negotiating the 2002 tribal state gaming compact that binds all of Arizona’s gaming tribes. They are that the tribe knew that it intended to buy land in Glendale in the Phoenix Valley, even though it was telling state and tribal negotiators that it agreed that no casino should be built there.
In addition to this court battle, most of Arizona’s congressional delegation supports a bill that would force the tribe to close its casino. U.S. Reps. Trent Franks and Paul Gosar, and Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake agree that Nation committed fraud during the 2002 campaign to pass Proposition 202, which was the approval of the compacts.
The state is even contesting the Nation’s right to serve alcohol at the casino.
Currently 16 tribes operate 23 casinos in the state. The profits they make allow them to offer much more than simple gaming.
For example, the Ak- Chin Indian Community has a casino that also has a cinema, bowling and dining.
The Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale recently built a spring training facility and has its sights on opening an auto park.
