{"id":117244,"date":"2019-10-15T02:09:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T09:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=117244"},"modified":"2019-10-15T12:21:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T19:21:03","slug":"tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribe Sues Federal Government for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Alaska Native village has filed suit against the US Interior Department for scuttling its 20-year quest to launch the state\u2019s second electronic bingo hall, Anchorage Daily News<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Eklutna\"
Traditional Eklutna dancers in the Native village, just north of Anchorage, Alaska. The DOI argues the tribe has no reservation within the meaning of IGRA. (Image: Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alaska has no casinos and no state lottery, just the aforementioned facility offering slot-like electronic bingo games and around a dozen charitable bingo venues.<\/p>\n

But the Village of Eklutna, which is based within the municipality of Anchorage, is determined to build an electronic bingo hall of its own.<\/p>\n

However, in June last year, the Interior Department ruled that the tribe does not hold governmental authority over the allotment of land earmarked for the gaming facility, and that plot does not constitute \u201ctribal land\u201d within the meaning of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,1988<\/a> (IGRA).<\/p>\n

Natives\u2019 Legal Anomaly<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Eklutna counter that they have for decades exercised jurisdiction and provided governmental and environmental services to the allotment, and argue the federal government\u2019s decision relies on \u201coutdated legal precedent\u201d and \u201cmisapplied relevant standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alaska Natives have slightly different legal status than Native Americans in \u201cthe Southern 48,\u201d which usually means they are unable to automatically claim the right<\/a> to offer class II gaming on their lands under IGRA.<\/p>\n

\n

In 1971, Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which recharacterized Alaska Natives as private corporations under Alaska state law, with tribal members receiving shares.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The tribes that signed up collectively received 44 million acres of inalienable land and shared an award of $962.5 million.<\/p>\n

But by becoming corporations, they ceased to be tribes living on sovereign reservations with sovereign powers.<\/p>\n

The only sovereign reservation in Alaska is that of the Metlakatla Indian Community, which also hosts the state\u2019s sole gaming hall. That\u2019s because the Metlakatla voted to opt out of ANCSA and retained rights to their land.<\/p>\n

Recent Precedents <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The land on which the Eklutna want to build their gaming hall was originally granted in 1906 under the Alaska Native Allotment Act. That allowed tribes in Alaska to apply for plots of land up to 160 acres, and ultimately allocated some 10,000 allotments.<\/p>\n

The Eklutna argue that the allotment falls within their ancestral homelands, and that the tribe exercises its authority over it through land management and environmental protection.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit points to recent precedents in California and Oklahoma, where the Interior Department has authorized tribes to operate Class II facilities on non-reservation allotments.<\/p>\n

There is no legal basis on which to distinguish allotments [in Alaska] from other Indian allotments,\u201d the tribe\u2019s complaint claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and US Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) support the Eklutna\u2019s plight, believing a gaming hall would bring economic regeneration and employment to the area.<\/p>\n

But others are concerned that success for the tribe would open the floodgates for Alaska Natives to launch gaming operations on any number of those 10,000 other allotments.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter decades of fighting for recognition of our tribal jurisdiction over this tiny fraction of our tribe\u2019s traditional territory, this lawsuit is an important step toward solving longstanding issues and creating new opportunities for the first people of Alaska\u2019s largest city, which have long been denied to us,\u201d said Aaron Leggett, president of the Eklutna tribe, in a written statement to Anchorage Daily News.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Alaska Native village has filed suit against the US Interior Department for scuttling its 20-year quest to launch the state\u2019s second electronic bingo hall, Anchorage Daily News reports. Alaska has no casinos and no state lottery, just the aforementioned facility offering slot-like electronic bingo games and around a dozen charitable bingo venues. But the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":117245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-15T09:09:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-15T19:21:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/\",\"name\":\"Tribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-15T09:09:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-15T19:21:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":678,\"caption\":\"Traditional Eklutna dancers in the Native village, just north of Anchorage, Alaska. Recent DOI opinions related to Alaska Native\u2019s sovereign rights have proved to be a game-changer for the tribe\u2019s casino ambitions. (Image: Flickr)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tribal Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Tribe Sues Federal Government for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall","description":"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall","og_description":"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-10-15T09:09:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-15T19:21:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":678,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/","name":"Tribe Sues Feds for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-15T09:09:57+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-15T19:21:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Alaska\u2019s Eklutna tribe files lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior for refusing to authorize a gaming hall on its land.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alaska.jpg","width":1024,"height":678,"caption":"Traditional Eklutna dancers in the Native village, just north of Anchorage, Alaska. Recent DOI opinions related to Alaska Native\u2019s sovereign rights have proved to be a game-changer for the tribe\u2019s casino ambitions. (Image: Flickr)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribe-sues-feds-for-nixing-plan-for-alaskas-second-gaming-hall\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tribal Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Tribe Sues Federal Government for Nixing Plan for Alaska\u2019s Second Gaming Hall"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}