The Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma is looking to open a casino in southern New Mexico.

The tribe has ancestral ties to the region. The Chiricahua Apaches lived there before being imprisoned in Florida then sent to Oklahoma. Some stayed and are members of the Mescalero Apache Nation of New Mexico.

The Fort Sill Apaches bought land in Deming in 1998 but chairman Jeff Houser says a casino further south near El Paso, Texas, would be ideal.

Jemez Pueblo of New Mexico also wants a casino in the area. The tribe's reservation is hundreds of miles away, raising charges of "reservation shopping."

The Mescalero Apache Nation already operates a casino in southern New Mexico and the Tigua Tribe has a Class II facility in El Paso.

Get the Story:
Okla. Apaches Seek to Build N.M. Casino (The Albuquerque Journal 11/7)
Oklahoma Tribe Plans Southern NM Casino (KFOX News 11/7)
Oklahoma tribe also considers casino in area (AP 11/8)