The Tohono O’odham Nation did not violate a gaming compact between it and the state of Arizona when it planned to build a casino in Glendale, the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday. Arizona and two other tribes claimed that the tribe’s casino plans were in violation of a 2002 gaming compact between the tribe and the state, which allowed gaming on native land but barred casinos on lands taking into trust after 1988. But, that bar did not extend to lands acquired as part of a settlement of a land claim, the court ruled, allowing the casino to go forward.

The ruling is the 19th federal court decision in favor of the project, The Arizona Republic reports. But despite the tribes’ winning streak, continued litigation is expected.

The 2002 gaming compact, made pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, limited the lands the tribe could use for Class III gaming, which includes table games, like poker and blackjack, as well as slot machines. The state and two other tribes argued that the compact created a limit to the number of casinos that could be operated in the Phoenix area.

But, the Tohono O’odham Nation argued and the Ninth Circuit agreed, there were important exceptions to that general bar. That bar does not apply to land “taken into trust as part of a settlement of a land claim,” according to the IGRA. And that’s just where the tribe had built its new casino.

What Counts as a Settlement of a Land Claim

In 2003, the tribe purchased a parcel of land on the boundaries of Glendale. They financed that purchase with $30 million in settlement funds acquired via the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act – restitution for the federal government’s flooding of the tribe’s reservation lands. Part of that purchase was then taken into trust by the federal government and became the site of the new gaming casino.

The purchase of that land with funds from the Lands Replacement Act, the Ninth Circuit ruled, qualified the lands as land “taken into trust as part of a settlement of a land claim.”

That does not mean the end to litigation around the casino, however.

Related Resources:

  • Court Sides With Tohono O’odham in Glendale Casino Dispute (Arizona Daily Star)
  • High Roller’s Suit Against Wynn Over Unpaid Debts Can Proceed (FindLaw’s U.S. Ninth Circuit Blog)
  • AZ’s 6 New Judges Include 1st Female Native American Fed. Judge (FindLaw’s U.S. Ninth Circuit Blog)
  • MIT Blackjack Player’s Appeal Busts in Ninth Circuit (FindLaw’s U.S. Ninth Circuit Blog)

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