After many years of conflict the state of Arizona and the Tohono O’odham Nation have struck a deal where the state withdraws its objections to the tribe’s Glendale casino, the Desert Diamond West Valley, and allows the casino to add table games, in return for promising no more casinos in the Phoenix valley.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and the Tohono O’odham Nation jointly announced the settlement last week, ending eight years of court cases that mostly went against opponents of the tribe.
“I am eager to continue meeting with gaming tribes to discuss how we can modernize the tribal-state gaming compacts and create positive economic opportunities for all Arizonans,” said Ducey, a reference to ongoing negotiations with the state’s other gaming tribes for a new compact.
Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Edward D. Manuel said that the agreement “brings to an end the final dispute that was constraining this important project.”
The tribe opened the casino in December 2015 with only Class II games because the state refused to certify its Class III slots. The tribe took the state’s director of gaming to court and the legal battle became a court version of trench warfare.
The state introduced evidence that it claimed showed that the tribe engaged in deliberate fraud when, in 2002 it appeared to promise other tribes and the state that it agreed that the compact before the voters prevented it from building in the Phoenix area. This, at the same time the tribe knew it planned to buy land for just that purpose—and which it did in 2003. In 2009 the tribe announced plans for a casino in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix.
The tribe countered by introducing its own evidence that appeared to show that the governor’s office had previously destroyed notes of meetings that would have showed that it illegally colluded with other tribes to try to block the O’odhams.
The deal, which would be good for the life of the tribal state gaming compact—until 2026— requires the imprimatur of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who have 45 days to approve or reject it. It could also be obviated if Congress passes legislation banning the development of casinos in the valley, a possibility since several bills have been passed in the House to do that—but not in the Senate. The key bill that would do that is called the “Keep the Promise Act.”
Ending this battle will enable Ducey to move ahead in amending the existing gaming compacts with the state’s other 22 gaming tribes. The state has a vested interest in smooth running tribal casinos since it is paid a percentage of the revenues. They have paid an estimated $1 billion to the state since 2003. He called the agreement a “major victory” that would confine gaming near Phoenix to what is currently there now.
But it’s also a win for the tribe, which, said Chairman Manuel “is eager to continue with its West Valley development and a world-class casino resort that all of Arizona can be proud of.” It will also probably be able to obtain a permit to serve alcohol at its casino, something the state was also able to block.
Still, it is unclear how the other tribes, several of which have also battled the Glendale casino, would react to the new agreement.
Ducey has been working to modernize the existing compact to reflect an evolving gaming technology and new types of games. It also allows more keno games and poker tables at existing casinos. He has obtained 14 signed agreements so far.
