Tribes Clash as Casinos Move Away From Home

Hemmed in on a small, rocky settlement, with trailers for housing and tribal members so poor they often cannot afford burials for their family members, the North Fork band of Mono Indians went in search of new land that could offer an economic lifeline: a place to build a casino. “We are virtually landless,” said Elaine Bethel-Fink, the North Fork chairwoman. “So we had to seek land elsewhere.” But the Chukchansi Indians, with their own thriving casino just 30 miles away, have another name for the North Fork’s plan to open a rival casino on the dusty plot of land it acquired just north of this city, 36 miles from its Rancheria, or tribal settlement. “It’s reservation shopping,” said Nancy Ayala, one of the Chukchansi tribal leaders. After decades of nearly uniform tribal support for Indian gambling — fighting in court and at the ballot box against state governments and anti-gambling politicians who sought to close their poker rooms — casino-owning Indian tribes have emerged as some of the most powerful and dogged opponents of new Indian casinos. One of the most pivotal and expensive battles is shaping up here. The Chukchansi and their Wall Street backers — Brigade Capital Management, an investment firm — and the Table Mountain tribe have spent more than $2 million to place a question on the statewide ballot in November about whether the North Fork tribe should be allowed to build its casino. Their campaign is one of the first times that tribes have turned to the ballot to fight another tribe’s gambling plans. Federal and state officials have already approved the North Fork project, which would bring a Las Vegas-style casino, and much-needed jobs, to this recession-ravaged area northwest of Fresno. But now the local issue will be put to voters statewide, illustrating just how far some tribes are prepared to go to keep newcomers off their turf. The phenomenon has been particularly intense in California, where there are more Indian tribes (109), more casinos (more than 60) and higher profits (about $7 billion a year) than in any of the other lower 48 states, according to state officials. Six more tribes have applied to open new casinos, while 78 groups have applied for federal tribe recognition, which is a prerequisite for a casino. But other examples abound. With profits stalling in the $28 billion-a-year Indian gambling industry, tribes from Oregon to Arizona are now using their casino wealth to stifle the competition: lobbying lawmakers, contributing generously to political campaigns and filing lawsuits to stop new casino projects in their tracks...more