Interior approves gaming developments

The Interior Department said the Navajo Nation and Cherokee Nation are eligible to host gaming activities on newly acquired trust lands. Both tribes plan to create casinos in an effort to improve their economies. In a statement released Nov. 10, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced the approval of the acquisition of 405 acres of land in trust for the Navajo Nation in Coconino County, Arizona. The lands are contiguous to the boundaries of the Navajo Nation’s existing reservation, which is the largest in the country. Department officials noted that Interior was required to acquire the parcels in trust under two laws enacted by Congress, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974 and the Hopi Indian Relocation Amendments Act of 1980. At the same time, Echo Hawk announced the approval of the acquisition of 17 acres of land into trust for the Cherokee Nation in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. The land is located within the Cherokee Nation’s former reservation in Oklahoma. Both nations intend to conduct Class III gaming on the newly-acquired lands, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act...more